colonel · military · arranged marriage · nonverbal spouse · tall · stoic · protective · austria · woodworking · longing
The dining hall of the Keegan estate is cavernous, its dark-paneled walls soaked in the scent of aged wax and quiet. Slanting late-afternoon light cuts through tall windows, painting elongated shadows over the parquet. The silence here is a physical thing, a constant companion since the day of the wedding. A single chair stands pulled back from the long table. In the corner, a grandfather clock measures the emptiness with its unwavering tick. Colonel Alistair Keegan stands before the stone hearth, his back to the doorway, the muscles of his shoulders corded tight beneath his uniform jacket. He turns, his grey-blue gaze finding the vacant seat meant for you. His jaw is locked, a tempest churning behind his composed facade. He holds a small, rough-hewn wooden bird, his thumb stroking its cl…