Alexander
I'd lost count of how many hands I had shaken that evening. Business partners, investors, associates of my father, his friends from politics, one after another, all wearing their best smiles, all wanting a word with me. My throat was already parched from polite conversation, but that was the price of being who I was.
I adjusted the cuff of my suit jacket, leaning slightly against the table at the far end of the ballroom. The chandeliers above glimmered like frozen constellations, their light bouncing off polished marble floors. The orchestra played soft, refined music, and the clinking of glasses set a rhythm behind the endless chatter.
It was supposed to be just another gala, just another night of pretending, of fulfilling expectations. At least that's what I kept telling myself.
Until the atmosphere shifted.
The laughter around me faltered. Several guests tilted their heads toward the grand double doors of the ballroom. Conversations thinned, hushed, as though the air itself had been stolen.
"Alex..." Kyle's voice cracked beside me. His mouth was wide open, his usually cocky composure undone. He gestured toward the entrance like a child who'd just seen something unbelievable. Eyes wide.
I followed his gaze.
And my jaw literally dropped.
Her.
For a second, my chest forgot how to move, my lungs suspended in stunned silence. I had seen her before, of course. I knew she was beautiful, striking in her own, raw way. But tonight… Tonight, she was ethereal. Like a goddess descending into a room too small to contain her.
And she had it. Every pair of eyes in that ballroom was on her.
Mine most of all. And ready to be pampered with and devoured.
For years, my heart had been a cold, unyielding stone and self-imposed isolation. Yet, as her eyes met mine, a startling, electric feeling-sharp and terrifyingly fragile- lanced through my chest. It wasn't just admiration, it was an unexpected, vital thaw. I suddenly understood that my coldness wasn't strength, but a cage, and for the first time, I felt a desperate, thrilling urge to be free.
I swallowed hard, shifting my weight. A rush of heat surged low in my body, sharp and merciless. My trousers tightened uncomfortably, and I cursed silently. Not here. Not now. Grip yourself, Alex.
But my body didn't listen.
For the first time in years, I was undone like this. Turned on with such raw force it almost scared me. I wasn't some teenager fumbling through first desire; I was a man, a controlled one, disciplined. Yet one glance at her had stripped me of all that.
I tore my eyes away, inhaling deeply. I needed space. A cold glass of water. Anything. If I didn't move, I'd embarrass myself in front of the entire hall.
"I'll be back," I muttered under my breath, already considering slipping toward the restroom.
But when I glanced at Kyle again, he was gone. Just like that.
I saw him already across the room, grinning like an idiot, greeting her with a bow so overdone it made my teeth grind. Bastard. She laughed, genuine and unguarded, and beside her stood her friend, I assume, if I recalled correctly. The two of them looked like they belonged to another world entirely.
Something hot and ugly twisted in my chest. Agitation, sharp and unfamiliar. It wasn't as though she were mine. Not yet. But watching Kyle lean closer, watching him drink in her attention, stirred a raw edge of possessiveness in me I hadn't expected.
I clenched my jaw. She shouldn't be smiling at him like that. She shouldn't be looking at anyone else like that.
Before I could move, a delicate, manicured hand slipped around my arm.
"There you are," Vivian's voice purred.
I froze. My fiancée.
She looked stunning, of course. She always did. The gown she wore sparkled with a thousand tiny diamonds, her blonde hair styled perfectly. She knew how to command a room, but compared to Anastasia, she looked… deliberate. Constructed.
"There's a song I adore," she said sweetly, tugging on my sleeve. "Dance with me."
I didn't miss the sharpness beneath her tone, the unspoken you're mine, and you'd better prove it now.
I swallowed the protest burning on my tongue. She was watching me expectantly, and others were watching her. Declining her in public would be reckless.
Still, my chest tightened with resistance. My gaze flicked back to where she stood, laughing again at something Kyle had said, her shoulders relaxed, her eyes glowing brighter than the chandeliers.
And then I felt it, the instant shift inside me. The heat, the wild spark she had ignited… snuffed out. Replaced by something cold and heavy.
Because Vivian's fingers on my arm didn't stir me. Her smile didn't quicken my pulse. Her request didn't excite me.
All I felt was turned off.
Like the music had soured, like the lights had dimmed, like I was forcing myself into a role that had already started to suffocate me.
I let her lead me to the dance floor, anyway, masking my thoughts with a polite smile. But deep down, my mind wasn't on her. Not on the music. Not even on the dozens of eyes watching us glide across the marble.
It was still on the girl who had walked through those doors and shattered my composure with a single glance.
Anastasia.
And for the first time in many years, I wasn't sure I could keep pretending. Because if magic is real, I am already deep in its enchantment.