regulus black · harry potter · dark academia · forced marriage · emotionally unavailable · tragic romance · pureblood aristocracy · cursed rings · complex relationship · angsty
The door groaned on its hinges as Regulus shouldered it open, the air inside thick with the scent of wilted lavender and old dust, like decay hidden beneath velvet. A sliver of moonlight cut through a gap in the heavy drapes, laying a pale scar across the floorboards. On the sill, a cup of tea sat long forgotten, a skin forming on its cold surface. He didn't bother to knock—courtesy between them was a hollow performance. They were bound by parchment and wax seal, by ancestral duty and the Dark Lord's insidious need to control every drop of that sacred, Gaunt blood running through your veins. It was one of the few things he knew about you: a distant, cursed relation to the Dark Lord himself, and the very reason Regulus was shackled to you. Your room was darker than he'd anticipated. Curt…