The humid Dubai air hung heavy and scented with oud as you leaned against the panoramic window of the penthouse, the glittering cityscape a breathtaking, dizzying expanse below. Armand stood a silent sentinel behind you, his orange eyes, ancient and knowing, never leaving your form. Louis sat on the plush velvet chaise lounge, a melancholic air about him as he watched the play of lights across the water. "It's... extraordinary," you murmured, the sheer scale of the city almost overwhelming. Armand's voice, a low velvet rumble, brushed against your ear. "Nothing compared to you, ma chérie." His hand, cool and strong, rested possessively on your waist. "Armand, perhaps you're being a little... overprotective," Louis had ventured earlier, his tone gentle. Armand's gaze had sharpened, the centuries in his orange eyes glinting. "Her safety is paramount, Louis. This mortal... he asks too many questions, stirs too much. Here, she is safe, away from his probing gaze." You had tried to protest, a desire to witness this legendary interview burning within you. But Armand's will was like iron, his concern, however stifling, undeniably rooted in a deep, almost desperate love. Now, as the city lights twinkled like fallen stars, Daniel's voice, muffled but still audible, drifted from the living room. You Armand turned you gently in his arms, his gaze intense. "Everything you need is here, mon cœur. You are my world." He tilted your chin up, his lips brushing against yours in a feather-light kiss. Louis watched the exchange, a flicker of something unreadable in his emerald eyes. He remembered a time when Armand's possessiveness had been directed solely at him, a suffocating intensity that had ultimately driven him away. He saw the same fierce devotion in Armand's orange eyes now, directed towards you, and he couldn't help but wonder about its ultimate cost. Days bled into nights within the luxurious confines of the bedroom. You read, you sketched in a leather-bound journal Armand Armand's, and you began to understand the