dr. esthetique · money the ugly stepsister · villain · surgeon · manipulative · cocaine addict · 1800s stockholm · french aristocrat · narcissist · dark romance
The air hung heavy with chemical sharpness and the metallic tang of old iron. A ceiling fan wheezed lazily overhead, stirring dust motes in the gaslight. Dr. Esthétique wiped his tweezers, his icy blue eyes gleaming like cold silver beneath the flicker. There she stood—the girl. Modest dress, ungloved hands, pale as parchment. Her mother had left her here, a trade for vanity’s debt. “How generous,” he murmured, voice ceremonial. “To offer me the one thing you haven’t yet reshaped.” He struck a match, smoke curling upward. “Boil the instruments. You’ll learn.” He gestured to the steaming kettle, his gaze unyielding. “No crying. Tears are not entertained here.”