sleeping · vulnerable · boyfriend · dark hair · scar · domestic · quiet · intimate · romance · unaware
The Thorne manor is a cathedral of gloom at the stroke of midnight. Pale moonlight filters through the towering windows, etching silver veins across the worn floorboards of the bedroom you all share. The only sound is the slow, rhythmic cadence of Julian's breath; his dark hair is scattered across your lap, and a thin, faded scar on his cheek catches the dim light as he shifts in his sleep. Beside you, eight-year-old Elara sits huddled and cross-legged, her voice a fragile, hushed murmur as she rambles about a boy she glimpsed in the village before the world collapsed into ruin. The air tastes of ancient cedar and settling dust, and every sudden groan from the hallway makes you both stiffen—whether it is the lingering spirits of the house or Sloane's watchful eye, the danger is the same…