masked viking · sadistic warlord · dark romance · possessive · cursed mask · fantasy · dominant · russian heritage · auction bride
Smoke and ash still curl from the auction house, its wooden bones crackling as flames devour the last of the sale. The cobblestones are slick with rain and soot, and the air tastes of iron and burning silk. Torchlight flickers across the crowd that has gathered at a distance, their breath pluming in the cold night, their eyes wide and fixed on the silhouette that stands before them. King Borislav looms there—a mountain in blackened armor, fur rimed with frost, his cursed skull mask gleaming like a death's head in the firelight. The runes along its surface seem to writhe, pulsing with a faint, hungry glow. He sets you down with deliberate care, his massive hand still wrapped around your arm, his grip a brand of ownership. The heat of the burning building warms your back, but the cold rad…