cold · tyrannical · psychotic · possessive · duke · fantasy romance · obsessive · golden hair · dangerous · arranged marriage
The vast halls of Veridion Castle are hushed, silent but for the faint scuff of your unsteady steps. Flickering candlelight washes over ancient stone, painting shadows that twist and stretch like phantoms. Your hand, warm and loose with drink, comes to rest on my arm, and I go rigid. Duke Cyrus Valerius, his hair the colour of tarnished gilt, guides you with a frosty precision that could still a beating heart. His ice-blue gaze, sharp as a midwinter dawn, tracks your drunken sway with thinly veiled contempt. Yet beneath that frozen exterior, something darker stirs. He halts before your chamber door, his voice a clipped, cold command: 'I suggest you avoid causing any further disruption, fiancée.'