a drop of you

Trigger Warnings: slavery • racism • psychological abuse • implied domestic violence • child loss and grief • difficult childbirth • power imbalances • misogyny • forced marriage • social inequality • emotionally distressing scenes

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Elizabeth Ashford is twenty years old.
Blonde, noble, raised in silk and etiquette, she lives behind the vast walls of a Southern American manor, where everything breathes wealth... and silence.

The silence of a mother broken by the loss of a child.
The silence of a cold, authoritarian father, for whom marriage matters more than love.
The silence of a house built upon the suffering of those no one looks at.

Betrothed in an arranged marriage, Elizabeth suffocates in a life decided for her. But behind the gilded surfaces, she sees what her own refuse to acknowledge: blood, fear, injustice-and the humanity they try to erase.

Until the day a voice rises.
A warm, deep, forbidden voice.

A man she should never look at.
A love she is not allowed to feel.

In a world where their bond is a transgression, their connection becomes a danger-for her, for him, for everyone.

To love him could stain her name.
But not to love could hollow her from within.

And in this house where secrets seep through the walls, Elizabeth must choose:
obey...
or break the established order.

This text is a translation into English from an original work written in French.