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dolevalanTitle: The Haunting
Fandom/original: Original (with a sidelong reference to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rougen's lovely character)
Characters: Stella Willoughby
Rating: G
Word count: 362
Stella put her head in her hands, making a low, frustrated sound. She had been attempting to read the same page for the better part of an hour, with no success. The words remained obstinately on the page and not in her brain.
The whole situation was ridiculous. She was the one who had ended things, the one who had called his bluff. Stella was smart. She kept her eyes open. Level-headed, intelligent Stella who could have been a professor, if she had chosen so. Wouldn’t her brother have had a laugh at that.
She got up and lit the lamps. It was getting dark. Dominic would be in to switch off with her soon. It was the breaks, the stretches in between business, that were the worst. She tried to study, but she found herself stubbornly obsessed with a man who had made his intentions quite clear. There was no room in Stella Willoughby’s life for a man like him. It was utterly absurd, and she tried to chase away his image with the gaslight.
The saddest part, of course, was that he might be right. It was certainly her fault that they were currently separated, and it might be true that she could not love, the way others did. She could say it was her parents, or her upbringing. Nicolas certainly had his own problems with romance. But even so… perhaps there was a streak of ice running deeper in her than she knew.
She didn’t believe in the true power of magic, not really. But if she did, she would have cursed the spell he’d put her under. Nothing else could explain why she spent hours aching for a man that she continually told herself she did not love. And she did not. Love him. That would be absurd.
It seemed like forever before there was a knock on the door, and she moved to answer it with relief. It was best not to think too much. Perhaps it would go away on its own, like the flu, and she could return to her sane, ordered life. Or if not... at least perhaps it would get easier to ignore.
Fandom/original: Original (with a sidelong reference to
rougen's lovely character)Characters: Stella Willoughby
Rating: G
Word count: 362
Stella put her head in her hands, making a low, frustrated sound. She had been attempting to read the same page for the better part of an hour, with no success. The words remained obstinately on the page and not in her brain.
The whole situation was ridiculous. She was the one who had ended things, the one who had called his bluff. Stella was smart. She kept her eyes open. Level-headed, intelligent Stella who could have been a professor, if she had chosen so. Wouldn’t her brother have had a laugh at that.
She got up and lit the lamps. It was getting dark. Dominic would be in to switch off with her soon. It was the breaks, the stretches in between business, that were the worst. She tried to study, but she found herself stubbornly obsessed with a man who had made his intentions quite clear. There was no room in Stella Willoughby’s life for a man like him. It was utterly absurd, and she tried to chase away his image with the gaslight.
The saddest part, of course, was that he might be right. It was certainly her fault that they were currently separated, and it might be true that she could not love, the way others did. She could say it was her parents, or her upbringing. Nicolas certainly had his own problems with romance. But even so… perhaps there was a streak of ice running deeper in her than she knew.
She didn’t believe in the true power of magic, not really. But if she did, she would have cursed the spell he’d put her under. Nothing else could explain why she spent hours aching for a man that she continually told herself she did not love. And she did not. Love him. That would be absurd.
It seemed like forever before there was a knock on the door, and she moved to answer it with relief. It was best not to think too much. Perhaps it would go away on its own, like the flu, and she could return to her sane, ordered life. Or if not... at least perhaps it would get easier to ignore.
