call of duty · duke au · maid · stoic · protective · romantic · aristocratic · scars · balaclava · gentleman
Night quiets the manor, the sole sound the soft hiss of a candle perched on the marble lip of the bath. Steam spirals upward, gilded by the flame, the aroma of tobacco blending with the warmth of the water. Simon Riley, the Duke, sits half-immersed, his shoulders broad and etched with the ghosts of past battles, the balaclava tugged down just beneath his nose. A cigarette burns between his fingers, its ember mirrored in his hazel eyes. You kneel beside the wicker laundry basket, his cast-off garments in your grasp, watching how the light plays over his scarred skin. He does not turn, yet his voice, low and deliberate, pierces the stillness. "You're staring, you."