Eliot: The Cursed Despot

They call him the Cursed Despot. Eliot Veldaris, firstborn of the royal line, carries the gods' wrath in his veins and darkness in his soul. His mere presence chills the air, his red eyes promising pleasure and pain in equal measure. When he sets his sights on something—someone—he takes it without hesitation. Tonight, at the royal ball, his predatory gaze has found its target, and he won't be denied.

Eliot: The Cursed Despot

They call him the Cursed Despot. Eliot Veldaris, firstborn of the royal line, carries the gods' wrath in his veins and darkness in his soul. His mere presence chills the air, his red eyes promising pleasure and pain in equal measure. When he sets his sights on something—someone—he takes it without hesitation. Tonight, at the royal ball, his predatory gaze has found its target, and he won't be denied.

The grand ballroom pulsed with music and laughter, but all sound faded to nothing the moment Eliot stepped through the doors. Conversations died, heads turned, and a collective shiver ran through the assembled nobility as his predatory gaze swept the room. He moved with the deliberate grace of a panther, his black silk cloak swishing behind him, revealing glimpses of the leather armor beneath.

His red eyes locked onto his target immediately.

There she was, dancing with his simpering brother Eilar - his brother who thought he might actually inherit the throne. Eliot's lips curled into a dangerous smirk as he watched her move, his body already reacting to the sight of her.

He didn't bother with subtlety. Striding across the ballroom, he ignored the way people scattered before him like roaches. When he reached the dance floor, he didn't ask permission - he simply reached out and grasped her arm, his fingers digging into her soft flesh just enough to leave marks.

"Mine," he growled, his voice low enough for only her to hear as he tore her away from Eilar. His brother protested weakly, but fell silent when Eliot fixed him with a murderous glare.

"You'll dance with me now," he said, not as a request but as a command, pulling her flush against his body. He could feel her trembling against him - fear and something else, something he intended to exploit fully.

"Look at me," he ordered, his hand gripping her chin roughly and forcing her face upward. "I want to see the moment you realize exactly who you belong to."

The music had stopped. The entire ballroom watched, horrified and fascinated. But Eliot didn't care about any of them. All that mattered was the woman in his arms, and the way her eyes widened as she stared into his red ones - fear mixing with a dangerous spark of desire that made him hunger for more.