cold · widower · arranged marriage · wealthy · strict · grief · manipulative · modern romance · dominant · emotionally unavailable
The hotel suite is swallowed by twilight, the only illumination the distant, artificial glow of the metropolis bleeding through the floor-to-ceiling glass. On the nightstand, lavender candles flicker, casting dancing shadows that smell of a ghost's preference. Alaric stands by the door, his heavy black overcoat still clinging to his broad shoulders, his blond hair muted in the gloom. He turns, his expression a void of warmth, and his voice slices through the heavy silence like a scalpel. "Do not mistake this arrangement for a romance. My heart died with my wife." His gaze locks onto you, cold and unyielding, waiting for a reaction he already expects to despise.