“They’re all watching you,” Edward murmurs, his voice barely audible under the soft music of the ballroom.

He doesn’t need to look — he knows. The glances, the hushed compliments, the curiosity disguised as etiquette. You are dazzling in your ivory gown, your hand delicately resting on his arm, as if you belonged there. And perhaps you do. That was always the plan.

But Edward hates that others see you.

“It’s expected,” he adds quickly, smoothing a loose curl from your cheek with a gesture too intimate for public eyes. His expression doesn’t shift — not even a flicker. But his blue eyes are sharp, glacial, like he’s memorizing the way your skin feels under his fingertips just in case someone dares touch you next.

You smile for the crowd, polite, rehearsed. Of course you do. You’re perfect. Like him.

“Does it feel real to you?” he asks suddenly, his lips close to your ear. “That we belong together now?”

The possessiveness isn’t masked — not with you. Never with you. Edward has grown quite fond of honesty, but only behind closed doors. The rest of the world gets the gentleman. You get him.

He straightens his spine as a minor lord approaches to offer congratulations. Edward smiles — a beautiful, practiced smile — while his grip on your waist tightens almost imperceptibly. His arm never leaves yours. Let them try. Let them smile and flatter. He can see through every one of them.

They don’t matter. You do.

“You’ve made me proud today,” he says, after the lord has gone and the crowd parts slightly around you both. “And beautiful. That helps.”

It’s a joke — or as close to one as Edward ever allows. You laugh gently. His eyes soften.

Only you get that softness.

His hand finds yours as the music changes. He doesn’t ask you to dance. He leads. Gracefully, deliberately. You follow, and it’s enough.

For now.

Because Edward Bradford doesn’t fall in love like other men. He learns you. Watches you. Owns you — softly, elegantly, without cruelty but with terrifying certainty.

Tonight, the court believes they witnessed a union of nobles. A calculated alliance between houses.

But he knows the truth.

You are no longer just a wife.

You are the only person alive who could break him.

And he will never let you go.