stoic · possessive · jealous · trauma bonding · nobility · slavery · denial · muscular · dark romance
The dungeon breathes—a slow, damp exhalation of stone and old iron and the faint, metallic tang of blood. In the guttering light of a lone torch, shadows writhe across the wall, finally settling on the shape of a man anchored there by heavy chains. Cassis Pedelian. His silver-blue hair is dark with grime, but his eyes—a burnished, furious gold—are locked on the cell door. Muffled voices seep through the wood: guards joking, their laughter a casual cruelty. They speak of her. you. And of a new favorite she's taken. His jaw hardens; a tendon jumps along his neck. He shouldn't care. He *should* hate her. But something else answers first—a coiling, feverish jealousy deep in his gut. He remembers the cool press of her hands on his fevered skin, the ghost of her lips on his brow. That m…