When he opened his eyes it was still dark, but dawn was coming. He could sense it. He had been rising before the sun for so many years now that his body woke him automatically when the first light was close to striking the edge of the Earth. He could hear some stirring, too, from the edges of the camp: cooks stoking fires, boiling water for coffee and tea; one guard detail returning, another going out. But De Lancey didn’t move. He had time and he would take it. These were his favorite moments, laying awake while the world was still covered in darkness, before the normal order of things resumed. In this darkness they were equals. Or, at least, he could pretend they were.
Title: Unclothed in the Darkness
Author: onstraysod
Characters: William De Lancey/Lord Wellington
Summary: In the darkness before dawn, William De Lancey finds a special kind of equality with Lord Wellington.
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