A Heart that still Bleeds

Astoria, a beautiful young woman that was taught her whole life to be obedient to men, to never question their needs, and that her husband's desires has to be stronger than hers, but she refuses, and that refusal leads to her running away from home to prove to everyone around her that it is her own life and no one gets to decide for her.
In this journey that she has chosen for herself, she comes upon a castle. Inside it, she meets Zayden.
Zayden believes himself to be a monster, and later on in the story Astoria finds out why.
He hides himself from the world and waits every moment for existence to be over, convinced that isolation is the only way to protect others from what he is.
Until Astoria enters his life.
Slowly, quietly and carefully something changed in him.
She is the colors he desperately needed. She is the light in his endless darkness. And she is the joy he internally craves. Life seems to have meaning again.
When both of their worlds meet something changes forever.
She seeks freedom, he needs forgiveness. In her presence, Zayden stops running from himself, in his stillness she finds rest. He learns to see beauty in a life he once despised. They slowly fall in love. Safe, gentle, comforting. They do not bond through trauma, but through healing. And together they learn that love doesn't mean running from yourself, it means becoming whole within.