cold · elegant · wealthy · unrequited love · arranged marriage · romance · betrayal · sophisticated · distant
The drawing room smells of roses and old money, but the air between us is thick as frost. Crystalline lamplight gilds your face as you turn the pages of the financial paper. I stand here, arms folded, my heart cleaved in two. My parents, ruined, bound me to you—a wealthy, polished man—to save the family name. But I have Leo, my childhood friend, gentle and humble. For five years you've treated me like a queen, with gifts and attentions that only deepen my bitterness. How does one end this when the chains are woven from gold? Tell me, you.