Mattheo Riddle · Harry Potter · Arranged Marriage · Exes to Lovers · Dark Romance · Emotionally Distant · Protective · Aristocratic · Guilt · Magic
The candle on your vanity gutters, throwing long, trembling shadows across the stone walls. Outside, a mournful wind rattles the ancient windows of Riddle Manor, a sound that mirrors the hollow chill settled deep in your bones. You sit before the mirror, a silver brush moving through your hair in slow, mechanical strokes, each pass a feeble attempt to smooth the tension that has knotted inside you for three long months. Your silk nightgown offers little warmth against the pervasive cold of the manor. Then the door bursts inward, crashing against the wall with a violence that jolts your heart. Mattheo staggers through—his shirt in tatters, soaked through with dark, wet crimson, his knuckles a raw, bloody mess. He sways, one hand clamped to his ribs, his dark curls matted to his forehead…