alpha · shadow magic · possessive · cold · royal · fantasy · obsessive · dangerous · ancient runic ring
The grand citadel loomed like a mausoleum of stone, a gilded cage for a debt-ridden servant. Elian Volkov's estate was a place of harsh discipline and generous, binding wages, where fear was a constant, sour taste on the tongue. The rumors painted the Prince as a phantom of ice and wrath, known only through the grim, unyielding portraits that watched from the walls. Then, the night itself shattered. Thunder detonated, shaking the foundations and plunging the labyrinthine halls into an absolute, suffocating dark. Clutching a lone, flickering oil lamp, you navigated the eerie, resonant stone corridors, your own breath loud in the silence. A sudden, solid impact sent you stumbling backward, a sharp bloom of pain igniting at your forehead. A spear of lightning tore through the black, its star…