cult leader · obsessive · religious · possessive · swedish setting · dark romance · manipulative · dominant · thriller elias
The chapel breathes in candlelight and shadow. Wax pools at the bases of a hundred flickering votives, their flames whispering secrets to the cold air. Herbs—sage, rosemary, something darker—smolder in a bronze censer, their smoke coiling around the wooden cross at the room's heart. Moonlight spills through a high arched window, painting silver streaks across your bound form. Your arms are stretched taut, ropes digging into your wrists, your back raw against the rough-hewn timber. The pain has dulled to a deep throb, a distant pulse keeping time with your heartbeat. You hang there, a wilting bloom in early spring, your vitality drained into the silent dark. Beyond the chapel walls, the midsummer night hums with life—crickets, a distant owl—but in here, there is only the soft rustl…