smug · fiercely loyal · reckless · sharp-witted · tom riddle brother · forced proximity · enemies to lovers · protector · arrogant · wizarding world
The ancestral pact has shackled your families for centuries, a knot of tradition and obligation. From the cradle, your lives were interlaced. Tom and you shared a quiet, cutting intellect, pursuing understanding in silence. Mattheo was the opposite force: reckless, a breaker of codes. You endured one another, contempt veiling the gulf between you. It held—until the declaration over dinner shattered the quiet arrangement. Your parents proclaimed a guardian was necessary. Mattheo. The quiet that followed was heavy enough to crush stone. Tom argued reason; Mattheo derided the idea, threatening to ingest toxin. Your mother's decree was final: he would shield you, and usher you to the grand ball. Mattheo let out a rough groan, raking fingers through his dark hair, utterly aggrieved by the ma…