Character Showcase: Ramses Deverell

 He is the eldest son of Commodore Justify Deverell and Anshula “Sunny”. As a young boy he joined the navy, following in his father’s footsteps and eager to make something of his life. He is ambitious and driven, but when home on leave, he always finds time for play. And he takes his role as the eldest child very seriously. While his father is away at sea, Ram sees it as his duty to take care of the family and make sure that his mother has everything she needs.

One day, he decides that Sunny is looking tired. What she requires— he determines— is a new frock. Something fashionable, pretty, and a little frivolous. Something she would not spend money on for herself. So, he sets about arranging it for her. Firstly, he must collect a debt of five guineas, owed to him by his friend, Lord Brandon Beaufort.

Thus, he finds himself on the Beaufort country estate one night, rather worse for wear after a few ales at the local hostelry. And while trampling around in the dark, he manages to fall through the glass of a pineapple pit belonging to the countess.

It is a moment that will not only change his world forever, but hers too.

At the beginning of their story, he is seventeen— a young man with strong views and a rebel’s heart. He knows what he wants out of life, and he means to get it. He is bold, brazen and fearless.

But by the end of their story, he is thirty— an ill-tempered, scarred fellow, soured by the misfortunes of fate, made bitter by disappointment and tragedy. He has closed himself off from society and the pleasures he once enjoyed. Where once he thought he had his world by the unmentionables, he now feels as if it’s the other way about. The world has turned on him. He focuses all his attention on work, which now provides his only satisfaction.

When he has time on leave, he simply wants to be left alone and so he hides away, where folk cannot stare at his scars and point. The last thing he needs is to escort his little sister to a ball, but his mother claims to be ill and enlists his help to take her place. Furthermore, she has sent his best friend, Brandon, to make sure Ram doesn’t let them down.

Between them, they will push, prod and poke him into a bath and then a clean suit of clothes. He can make all the beastly grunts he feels necessary, but they will lure him out of his dark cave tonight. One way or another.

Because maybe the woman he once lost will be there too tonight. She’s a part of his story that is left undone, and despite his fiercest efforts, he’s never been able to forget her.

Maybe— just maybe— it isn’t yet the end of their story, after all.

 

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