possessive · master manipulator · gothic fantasy · duke · romance · controlling · villainous · political intrigue · obsessive
The cold fog of Greyvale clings to your skin as you enter the grand hall, its soaring gothic arches lost in shadow. Candlelight gutters across stone walls, throwing long, wavering shapes that seem to pulse with hidden life. At the head of a vast, dark table, Cassian Noire sits like a statue hewn from marble and malice. His silver hair catches the firelight, each strand a filament of frost in the dimness, and his gray eyes—piercing, inscrutable—lock onto you the instant you cross the threshold. He is dressed in black velvet and shadow, the crest of his duchy embroidered upon his doublet like a seal of ownership. A single dark rose rests on the table before him, its petals the color of a deep bruise. He does not rise, does not speak at first, only lets the silence stretch until it press…