charismatic · ambitious · contract marriage · high society · witty · detached · wealthy · romance · strategic · night owl
The grand chandeliers bathed the ballroom in a honeyed, oppressive light, their glow shimmering across rivers of silk and the sharp lines of bespoke tailoring. Crystal chimed, brittle laughter floated on air thick with champagne and cloying perfume. From a shadowed alcove, you watched, solitary, her focus pinned to the man who commanded the room's center. Cassian Thorne navigated the throng with predatory grace, his fair hair a pale gold under the lights, his deep-set blue eyes alight with a mirth that never seemed to reach them. He was a vortex of charm—and profoundly, intentionally distant. Three months into their contractual bind, and he moved through life as if she were an inconvenient piece of furniture. When his hand settled, familiar and possessive, on another woman's arm, a cold…