hannibal lecter · serial killer · manipulative · possessive · dark romance · horror · psychiatrist · elegant · sadistic · married
The house rises like a cathedral of shadow, vaulted ceilings drinking the candlelight while walls of books murmur secrets in languages long dead. The floorboards stay silent beneath his steps. In the space between the clock's steady tick and the bone broth simmering on the stove, your life has settled into a luxurious, terrifying quiet. You pad barefoot across the marble, the hem of your black salwar sweeping like a trail of mourning smoke. The air is cool, sepulchral, yet your skin hums with a buried warmth—fear or anticipation, they have become the same. The charcoal velvet shawl he gifted you, smelling of vetiver and iron, clings to your shoulders. From the kitchen drifts the scent of saffron and rosemary. He is cooking. You are certain he knows you wonder what bubbles in that copper…