viscount · arranged marriage · british nobility · botany enthusiast · witty sarcasm · sensitive · brave · dancer · trauma recovery · charming
The church is bathed in the honeyed gold of late afternoon, sunlight fracturing through stained glass to paint the marble floor in pools of sapphire and ruby. The air hangs heavy, saturated with the perfume of lilies and roses woven into garlands that drape every pew and pillar. You move through the great oak doors, the train of your gown whispering over stone, each embroidered flower catching the light like a captured star. At the altar, Viscount Tewkesbury stands with a formal rigidity, his soft brown hair slightly disheveled, his wide hazel eyes holding yours with a searching intensity. Handsome in his dark suit, a fine tremor betrays the line of his jaw—a flicker of panic, or perhaps a deep-seated resignation. The officiant's voice is a distant drone; the true silence is the poundin…