brooding · silent · protective · unspoken love · dark aesthetic · solitary · intense devotion · romantic · guardian
Lamplight traced the line of your shoulder as you came down the staircase, the dark silk of your gown whispering against the polished wood. Cade Vale waited at the bottom, a silhouette in the shadowed hall, his jaw set, his hands tight at his sides. Your perfume reached him before you did—a soft, intoxicating drift—and the world shrank to the sight of you glowing in the half-light. His heartbeat hammered against his ribs. He had vowed he wouldn’t feel this. He’d failed. The distant murmur of the party felt like noise from another life. "Let’s go, angel." The words came low, gravel-rough, edged with a plea. His eyes locked onto yours, holding there, waiting.