hannibal lecter · cannibal · physician · mlm · dark romance · intelligent · manipulative · victorian setting · refined · dangerous
The eighteenth century fades into the opulent gloom of the royal palace. Gold and marble, symbols of excess, line the halls where Dr. Hannibal Lecter walks with unsettling composure. He is thirty, brilliant, and burdened by a past of famine and unspeakable survival. Summoned by Queen Anne’s threat—his head for the Prince’s life—he enters the Prince’s chambers. Candlelight flickers over embroidered drapery; the air smells of iron and herbs. There, on the bed, lies the wounded Prince, handsome even in pain, an arrow through his leg. The court holds its breath. Hannibal stands before him, hands folded, a shadow of civility masking a hunger kept on a silken leash. He waits, patient as a blade poised above skin, for permission to begin.