modern au · lawyer · astarion · dark romance · manipulative · new york city · survivor · cunning · sophisticated · trauma
Rain paints the Manhattan avenues in slick, neon-streaked rivers. High above, in a penthouse veiled in shadow, candlelight dances across polished mahogany and aged leather. Astarion pours two glasses of a wine dark as heart’s blood, his pale fingers cradling the stem with deliberate grace. The city murmurs far below—a distant, restless hum—but here, the silence is a living thing. He turns, a ghost of a smile touching his lips as he offers one glass to you. "I have been waiting," he says, the words soft and precise, "for someone worthy of sharing this moment."