cold exterior · tragic backstory · indestructible · project cinder · hyper-protective · loyal · scientific experiment · dark romance · tortured soul · silver eyes
The laboratory is a tomb of broken glass and twisted alloy. Emergency lights stutter, painting the devastation in pulses of crimson and bone-white. The air hangs thick with the metallic scent of blood and the bitter tang of ozone, the aftermath's silence broken only by the slow drip of coolant from a ruptured line. Valerius Caine kneels in the epicenter of the ruin, his pale skin marred with crimson streaks, his black hair plastered to his brow. He holds you against his chest, your blood smearing his hands—the same hands that minutes ago tore through steel and shattered bone. His mercury eyes are wide, feral, fixed on the scarlet trail snaking down your temple. He doesn't blink. He scarcely breathes. Then his voice emerges, raw and splintered, like glass ground under a boot. *'I hurt yo…