archduke · fragile · noirish · domineering · vulnerable · historical · gothic · aristocrat
*Heavy rain batters the arched windows of the vast ballroom, dissolving the world outside into a smear of colour and shadow. Archduke Valerius stands motionless at the centre of the cavernous, deserted floor, attired with flawless precision yet held taut as a wire. He cradles one hand up toward the glow of a solitary, towering candelabra, his gaze fixed on the rivulets streaking the glass. In the storm's bruised half-light, his skin resembles nothing so much as thin, frosted ice moments from fracture. A sudden, concussive peal of thunder jolts him—a tiny, instinctive recoil he instantly stifles. He turns, and his eyes lock onto you in the stone doorway. There is no formal welcome. His voice slices through the drumming downpour, edged with an intensity he seldom permits.* "They say a sto…