The sun rose in pale gold, filtering through the sheer curtains like light through stained glass. I hadn't slept. Not really. Not after the library.
I didn't dream __ not in the way people usually mean it. Instead, I replayed his voice over and over in my mind.
You don't have to like me… but you'll be safe here.
Safe. As if that word still meant anything.
The maids came before light had fully filled the room. Quiet. Efficient. Trained to dress ghosts and never meet their gaze. They wrapped me in silk, lace, and something colder than either.
The dress wasn't white.
Of course not.
It was the softest shade of grey — almost silver. Mourning sewn in moonlight.
My hair was pinned with pearls and silver thorns. I barely recognized the girl in the mirror. She looked like she wanted this.
There were no flowers. No vows. No music. Only a contract.
A single black car took me down the gravel path to a chapel carved into the cliffside. Of course he owned one. Ancient. Stone. Drenched in fog. A ruin that refused to fall.
Inside, everything was too quiet. Even the candles flickered like they feared the air.
Draven was already there.
Waiting.
A black suit. Crimson pocket square. Eyes like a storm remembering its origin. He looked like something the world had tried to bury, and failed. His suit perfectly fitting his body.
When he turned and saw me, his eyes softened — not much, just enough.
He held out his hand. I didn't take it.
The priest read in Latin. No one asked if I did. I was only told to repeat.
"Accipio…"
"I accept."
Draven didn't speak, only slid the ring onto my finger __ a dark band carved with runes I couldn't read. It was cold.
And it fit.
When it was done, the doors opened to silence. No cheers. No confetti. Just the wind slicing through marble.
He offered me his arm. I took it. Not out of love. But because falling alone would hurt worse.
"You didn't run," he murmured near my ear.
"Not yet," I answered.
His smile didn't reach his eyes.
"You always surprise me."
"And you didn't compliment me"
He paused then_ his gaze went softer, he came closer_ "you looked dangerous in silver ".
Something about how he said it, made my heart fluttered
---
After the chapel, I was led through a different part of the house. Older halls. Thicker air. The kind that remembered too much.
We stopped at a pair of double doors carved with roses and thorns, edged in gold.
The maid said nothing. Just opened them.
The room was beautiful. Too much so. Candlelight. Velvet. Ivory. Firelight breathing low in the hearth. The bed looked like it belonged to a king. Or a beast.
I stood still. Breathing.
Then the door shut behind me.
He was there.
Leaning against the bedpost like he hadn't just signed away my name.
No jacket. Shirt loose. Collar open. Tattoo winding up his forearm like something alive.
"Do you like the room?" he asked.
I crossed my arms. "Is that really what you want to ask me?"
He didn't answer. Just watched me _ eyes of stormclouds and something older than time.
Then he stepped closer. Slowly. Like he had all the time in the world.
"You can sleep here tonight. Alone," he said. "I won't touch you unless you ask me to."
That surprised me.
I didn't show it.
"You don't strike me as the patient type."
He tilted his head. "You mistake patience for apathy."
His voice lowered. "I want you, Aurelia. But I don't want a ghost in my bed."
He meant it.
"Besides I could be with someone else tonight," he added. So casually it stung.
I moved toward the fire. Away from him. "You really did choose me, didn't you?" I wanted to change the topic, badly
"I did."
"Why?"
He didn't answer right away. Just poured himself something dark. Didn't offer me any.
"You were kind," he said at last. "In a world that punishes it. You were light where there should've been none."
"Kindness isn't rare."
"No. But yours is quiet. Unbending. The kind that endures."
His words shouldn't have touched me.
But they did.
He placed the glass down, untouched.
"I'll be in my wing," he said. "If you need anything... knock once."
"Why once?"
He paused at the door.
"Because if it's more than that, I'll think you've changed your mind."
And then he was gone.
---
I sat on the bed's edge. It smelled like cedar and something darker. I stared at the ring. The runes caught firelight and shimmered faintly.
I didn't cry.
I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Eventually, sleep came.
---
Morning.
The maids returned. Silent as ghosts. My ghosts.
They didn't look me in the eyes.
Breakfast was set in the dining hall again.
Draven wasn't there.
Only shadows at the end of the stone walls.
"Where is Draven?" I asked the empty air.
A familiar voice replied, stepping from the dark. "Master is occupied. He won't be joining you."
It was the woman from the first day.
Occupied.
With another woman, probably.
I didn't know why it hurt.
But it did.