Apron Strings

There's something odd about Taliesin Waters. The young lord has invited middle-class army captain Roman Baedev to his manor house under the pretext of a restful leave, but Taliesin's true intentions are far from transparent. 

As the week progresses, the mystery takes on a dangerous, bloody turn, and it becomes increasingly clear that there may be no escape for Roman either from the house or from his own desires.

Apron Strings is 11k words featuring unequal power dynamics, vampire mind games, brat taming, homosexual behaviour, body horror and a man slowly unravelling from the inside out.

Originally part of a bundle here are some reviews kindly left by others:

Angel: 

"When he puts one foot up onto the truck and it tilts with a man’s weight instead of a boy’s, all the eyes inside drag towards him." Fav line!! Nico's writing tastes good on the eyes. The dynamic between an older officer and a younger cadet.. lots to sink your teeth into (haha)

Lukan Garrow:

Vivid, detailed prose, delicious power dynamics. “ The round shapes of his shoulders make him look breakable, delicate, the way freshly laid snow begs for heavy indents of footprints to mark it.” So good.

Oralmenace:

i just finished reading this and it was such a wonderful trip into the crumbling mind of a man slowly falling apart. i love love love a story that plops you into the middle of a situation and unravels itself as you read. now i'm foaming at the mouth for more!!

Puck:

You better prayyy Nico puts Apron Strings out for sale to the masses someday because this is such a good bit of "guy who has no idea what the fuck happened, and the ones who do know would rather treat him like livestock or a sex toy than tell him anything" and it is horny 🥰🔥 I love bullying

The character Roman Baedev originally appears in Dacha by congressofspirits and is portrayed here with enthusiastic consent.