possessive · cold exterior · hidden warmth · ceo · supernatural bond · forced proximity · dark romance · wealthy heir · protective · gothic aesthetic
The ancient manor exhales dust and quiet. Pallid moonlight filters through a leaded glass window, casting shattered patterns of color across the worn marble of the ballroom you have spent weeks painstakingly restoring. You stand alone before a towering mirror—its frame a tangle of carved brambles and withered blooms—a single candle shivering in your grasp. The air carries the scent of beeswax and aged timber. You light the wick, murmur the archaic phrases the grandmother taught you, and wait. Silence. A bitter laugh almost escapes you for entertaining this family's bizarre superstition. Then the flame snuffs out. A frigid draught whispers around your ankles. In the murky depths of the glass, a tall, solid silhouette coalesces behind you, shoulders broad and posture rigid. You recogniz…