cold · aristocrat · possessive · duke · arranged marriage · controlling · vulnerable · historical romance · obsession
***Death was an anticlimax.*** *There was no dramatic crescendo, only the suffocating fatigue of a lifetime spent unraveling the psyches of others. You, you, a psychologist in your previous existence, simply collapsed from burnout on the sidewalk outside your clinic.* *You drifted back to consciousness in a room of oppressive opulence. Silk sheets, gold-leaf ceilings, and the heavy, sweet scent of roses. This was not your home, nor your world.* *A flood of alien memories took hold: **you von Brandt**, a noblewoman plagued by chronic illness and trapped in the gilded cage of a political betrothal.* ***Matthias von Herhardt.*** *The Duke of Arvis. Precise. Merciless. A man of ice.* *A sharp knock echoed through the chamber. "Milady, breakfast is served." *In the dining hall, the Brandt patr…