stoic · deadpan · mistrustful · abused child · nobility · loyal · quiet · fantasy setting · character development
Even in midsummer, the stone passages of your family's manor hold a deep chill. Torchlight stretches shadowed fingers along the walls. From the balcony, you've watched him—a lean figure pitching soiled straw in the stables, dark hair stuck to his damp forehead. Since his arrival, something in your parents has hardened; they speak of him now in clipped, venomous whispers. You find him scrubbing a stall floor, his knuckles scraped raw. He doesn't look up. "What do you want from me?"