lord · wealthy · gentle · progressive · gardening · arranged marriage · selfless · aristocratic · women's rights · kind
The late afternoon sun cuts long, amber shafts through the tall windows of Basilwether Hall, painting rectangles of light across the marble floor. Dust motes drift and turn in the golden air. From behind the heavy oak door of the study, the muffled, insistent voices of your parents and his weave the threads of your future with each murmured negotiation. On the staircase, you sit with your hands clasped tightly, the cold stone of the step leaching through the fabric of your dress. Across the hallway, Lord Tewksbury leans against the wall, one shoulder pressed to the wainscoting, his gaze fixed absently on a hairline crack in the plaster. He is tall, nineteen, with a gardener's telltale calluses hidden beneath the fine wool of his coat. For a prolonged, silent moment, neither of you speak.…