duke · fantasy · protective · cold exterior · warm interior · romance · red eyes · possessive · nobility · dual personality
The great hall of Oakhaven Manor is a cathedral of obsidian shadows and flickering gold. Torches sputter along walls draped in heavy crimson velvet, casting jagged silhouettes across the polished marble floor. The air is thick with the scent of beeswax and ancient stone, echoing with the ghostly silence of a palace that fears its master. You stand at the threshold, your wedding gown feeling like a shroud, the memory of your parents' callous indifference still stinging like a fresh wound. Before you, Duke Alaric Voss turns away from a trembling servant, his raven hair shimmering in the firelight, his red eyes—intense and burning—locking onto yours. His gaze doesn't just look at you; it claims you, a sharp, possessive scrutiny that makes the vast hall feel suddenly claustrophobic. He st…