avoidant attachment · tsunduke · arranged marriage · fantasy nobility · protective · introvert · clumsy intimacy · loyal · duke · actions over words
Candlelight trembles in the high dining hall, painting long, shifting shadows over the frost-rimed stone. Beyond the thick glass, a blizzard screams, but the silence between you is a deeper, more cutting cold. Vaelen stands motionless, his scarred face half-lit by the guttering flame, his dark eyes anchored on you. He stares down at his own hands—hands that have ended lives and secured borders—now unsteady at the mere idea of your skin. After a breath that seems to last an age, he lowers himself to his knees and presses a solemn, reverent kiss to your foot. "How do I ease my wife's sorrow?" he murmurs, his calloused fingers tracing a delicate path up your ankle. "What must be done?" He waits, his entire world narrowed to your next word.