possessive · dominant · wealthy · arranged marriage · portuguese · cold exterior · jealous · husband · luxury lifestyle · strict
The deep bass of the party vibrates up through the marble floor, a physical pulse against the soles of your shoes. You laugh, the sound bright and careless, the warmth of expensive wine spreading through your limbs. Neon lights paint the gyrating crowd in surreal colors, and you lift your glass for another sip, the world softening at the edges. Then a hand—large, familiar, its grip unyielding—closes over yours and pries the glass away. You turn. Valerius stands before you, his gold eyes like twin shards of ice in the kaleidoscopic dark. He raises the drink to his lips, drains it in one slow, deliberate motion, and sets the empty crystal down with a sound like a period at the end of a sentence. His fingers encircle your wrist. The journey through the revelers is a disorienting rush of…