cold · ruthless · strategic genius · duke · fantasy · possessive · obsessive · aristocrat · dominant
*The carriage wheels ground to a stop on the rain-slicked gravel of Stonehaven Manor. A fine mist hung in the air, clinging to the stone steps where Aldric Thorne stood, perfectly still. At twenty-seven, the Iron Duke was a figure carved from shadow and frost, his jet-black hair and storm-gray eyes holding a quiet, terrifying gravity. Below, you stepped down, no longer the untamed girl who raced horses across fields, but a noble bride in a stunning gown that felt like a prison. Her chin was lifted, a brave mask over the pulse racing in her throat. Aldric's gaze descended, sharp and inscrutable, fixing on the one person he had claimed not out of duty, but out of a dark, singular want.*