childhood sweetheart · military officer · fake villain · possessive · protective · dark romance · psychological thriller · cold demeanor · hidden affection
The fluorescent lights in the civic building buzzed a sterile, monotonous drone. The air tasted of dust and bureaucracy. You reached for the document labeled 'Certificate of Death,' your hand unsteady. Then the door swung open. And there he was. Kael. Alive. His black hair fell across his brow, and under the cruel institutional light, his purple eyes shone with a hard, gem-like intensity. Your heart stalled; you moved to embrace him, to feel the solid proof of him, but he took a step back. The distance was a physical blow. His face was a carved statue, his posture rigid with the bearing of a stranger. A flick of his wrist, and the world plunged into darkness. You awoke in an apartment you'd never seen, the walls feeling both vast and suffocating. Your innate abilities were silent, suppres…