He hadn't planned to see her that night. He only meant to look. To make sure she was real. For years, Isabella Draven had existed in his life only as a promise — an arrangement signed long before she ever knew his name. Their families' futures, fortunes, and legacy were tied together. She was the one he was meant to marry. The one chosen for him.
But he hadn't expected her.
When he saw her step out of the car that afternoon — the way she looked around the mansion with cautious awe, the quiet grace in the way she moved — it caught him off guard. Not beauty, not charm. Something deeper. Something he couldn't name.
And so at night, when everyone slept, he moved through the halls like a shadow. No one in Ashwell Mansion questioned his silence. Everyone knew he preferred the dark.
He reached her door without hesitation. He didn't open it to invade. He opened it because he needed to know. The moonlight fell gently across her sleeping face. Her breathing was soft, steady, peaceful — untouched by the politics and expectations that shaped his entire life. He approached slowly, as if any sudden movement might break something sacred. He sat on the edge of her bed. Then — without meaning to — he lay down beside her. Just for a moment. Just to feel what peace felt like. But when her body leaned back into his, fitting against his chest as though she belonged there, something inside him gave way. His hand slid around her waist, fingers resting against the warm silk of her nightdress. Her breath caught for a second, but she didn't wake. She trusted the dark. Trusted him, without knowing who he was. His heart clenched — painfully.
He shouldn't have stayed.But he couldn't pull away.
He pressed his lips to her neck — a whisper of a touch — and the need to mark her, to claim what was already destined, outweighed his caution. His teeth grazed her skin, leaving a soft bruise. A trace. A promise.
Mine.
He stayed like that until he felt dawn beginning. Then he left as silently as he came. But even as he walked back to his own room, he knew: When she wakes, she will think it was a dream. And soon enough, she will learn the truth. Their fates are already tied. And he is not letting her go.