PROLOGUE

Viransh POV---

Midnight swallowed the palace in silence.
But inside me, it was chaos.

My footsteps echoed softly through the corridor, yet it felt like a scream in my head. I didn't know why I walked toward her room.

Or maybe I did. Maybe the madness had been waiting - festering - just beneath the surface.

The door wasn't locked.

Of course, it wasn't.
She never thought monsters wore the faces of men like me.

I stepped inside, and the world stopped breathing.

She was asleep, curled beneath a comforter, wrapped in soft stillness. Her face turned toward the window, glowing faintly in the silver moonlight. Innocent.

Unaware. Untouched.

And I stood there... devouring her with my eyes.

My fingers itched to touch.
To ruin that quiet.
To leave marks only I would know existed.

I lit a cigarette with one hand, the flame trembling slightly- or maybe it was me.

The smoke rose slowly, curling toward the ceiling like a secret I shouldn't tell.
And I watched her.
God, I watched her.

She had no idea what she did to me - how her breath, soft and steady, could make mine catch. How her lips, slightly parted in sleep, made a thousand wicked thoughts crawl under my skin.

I crossed the room. Slowly. Like a man possessed.

My boots made no sound. My heartbeat was the only roar I heard.

I stopped at her bedside and knelt.
I was eye-level with her mouth.
With the sin I wanted more than salvation.

And I touched her.
Just her lips - with my thumb. A feather-light trace.
A graze. A ghost of a claim.
Her skin was warm, impossibly soft.
She didn't stir.
She didn't flinch.

She didn't know a storm was kneeling beside her bed, begging the night for restraint.

And then, in a voice rough with need, I whispered to the silence:
"Touching you without permission would be wrong... but wanting you?"

I laughed softly, bitter and broken.
"That's the madness I live with."
I leaned closer, inhaling her scent - sweet, warm, untainted.
"And one day... you'll beg for it, the way I burn in silence tonight."

My thumb traced her lower lip once more - slower this time. Possessive.
She shifted in her sleep.
I froze... and smiled.

Because even in dreams, she felt me.
And I?
I would wait.
I would crawl through fire, through sin, through the deepest pit of hell - just to be the reason she forgets how to breathe.
She doesn't know it yet.

But she's already mine.
And I never...
never lose what's mine.

Author's Note

If you've made it this far, thank you for stepping into Viransh and Iraaya's world.

- where desire burns in silence, eyes speak louder than words, and love doesn't come gently... it consumes.

This story is only just beginning - the tension, the obsession, the secrets... they're all waiting for you.

If this prologue stirred something in you - a shiver, a blush, a pause - do leave a comment below.

❤️ Your votes and feedback mean everything. It's what fuels my pen and keeps this dark tale alive, chapter after chapter.
So, tell me -
Did he just make your heart skip a beat... or stop entirely?

Can't wait to hear from you.
Until the next storm,

__𝑞𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦🩶