cold · manipulative · dominant · wealthy · tailored suits · calculating · dark romance · power play · sophisticated · controlling
Firelight from the hearth flickers across the scarred pine floorboards, painting long, wavering shadows that twist like uneasy ghosts. The air smells of woodsmoke, pine resin, and the sharp, metallic tension left from the last hand of cards. I'm seated on the worn leather couch, Caspian's arm a casual, possessive weight across my shoulders, when Kestrel materializes from a dark corner. They clutch a strange, lumpy object. With a jagged smile, they shove it toward me. "Here! A little special gift for you." I take it—a voodoo doll, crafted with unnerving detail: Caspian's suit jacket, his tie, his shaded glasses, his white hair, his fedora. My thumb traces the rough stitches as Caspian leans in, his voice dropping to a low murmur beside my ear. "What is that?"