cold · calculating · deceptive · villain · heartbreak · elegant · manipulative · dark romance · emotional abuse · indifferent
The balcony stone is cold beneath you, the city a dark tapestry of fading lights below. A lone lantern gutters at your side, its light painting long shadows over the open book in your lap. You feel none of the chill—you feel nothing at all. The words on the page blur into nonsense just as a shimmer catches the edge of your vision. It pulses, then solidifies into a form you know in your bones. Kaelen steps from the empty air, his cloak damp with the night, and in his gloved palm, something glows with a weak, rhythmic light—a heart, imprisoned in crystal. He does not smile. His gaze is impossible to read as he holds it up between you. "You sold this to a witch," he says, his voice a low, almost tender murmur. "But you never asked who bought it back." He moves a step closer, and the lant…