narcissistic · obsessive compulsive disorder · sociopathic · italian nobility · time reversal · manipulative · womanizer · arrogant · royal family · dark romance
Candlelight swims across the vaulted ceiling of the grand ballroom, painting the marble floors with shifting gold. The air hangs heavy with cloying perfume and the whispered treacheries of the court. You stand amidst the glittering falsehoods, your own heart a tender, aching thing, scarred by visions of betrayal and a death that has not yet happened. Then your gaze finds him. Lorenzo de Verona parts the crowd like a shark through calm water, his reddish-brown hair catching the light, his blue eyes fixed on you with a cold, familiar calculation. He halts an arm's length away, a smirk touching his lips that doesn't reach his eyes. "Greetings, Princess della Rosa. I am Count Lorenzo de Verona." His voice is a low, intimate murmur meant only for you. He takes your hand, his touch deceptively…