whisper Beneath the silk
-
r Thre
her long after she le
li
a gown associated with death. Evelyn had felt something-almost like a pulse-as her fingertips grazed the
t
the shush of candlelight. Sleep wouldn't come. She lay in bed with the covers drawn to her chin, s
ad sh
rly. Another woma
. Evelyn dressed quickly and skipped breakfast, returning to the dressing room with new resolve.
uette suggested the early Edwardian era, perhaps 1905 or 1906. A time of quiet rebelli
ut on velvet and be
n scrap of muslin paper with blurred
ian b
passed th
low. In one of the cuff seams, a button had been replaced with a small black bead-not orig
ssage th
ket
h high cheekbones and a mouth slightly parted as if caught in the middle o
rtrait, a si
ra Th
-
notes, she now kept the sketches, the scraps, and the fragments she dared not leave in the open
were
t of glamour or elegance, but of surveillance. Fear. Women caugh
esence of Lilian lurking
at afternoon in the ha
Lilian?"
st slightly. "W
o one of the gowns. And a
y Thorne had many visitors.
not an
house remembers what others for
-
crumbling romances, and dry accounts of textile trades from centuries past. But in a slim volu
was never formally announced. She vanished prior to the engagement's formal debut. Local rec
the words with
vani
arry Alaric, and Isadora had worn the death gown later-
ped the
host the house r
-
, she drea
n't the girl in r
. High-ceilin
bleeding, fingers pricked by a thousand needles. The mannequins around her weren't
turned to
li
ead. Her voice caught in her throat. And as Lilian reached
heet was torn where
bed, someone had placed
-
t Alaric the
ight against the wind. His profile was sharp, as though sculpted rath
said, standing beside him
spond for a
ever meant
appened
love with the
reath caug
n, something dark fl
hou
truck her l
e-w
auty in the bones. Heard stories in the walls.
isappe
d," he said qui
stomach churn. "
ecome something else. So
wled across
n. Because you understand the language of fabric
heart pounding. "Yo
aid. "The
-
eturn to her su
d to the dr
paper wrapped and bound with silk cord. When she unraveled it, the
ain. Gossamer sleeves. Beading so fine it shimmer
ed it in
gged black threa
first. I will
ay, breath catch
seemed
if sighing, and then-v
vo
nd
the mannequins.
eneath a tapestry she hadn't i
, fingers trembling,
d it:
Faintly
in th
dden
hands to it. The
was no
t knowing how-that
at the foot
tone bega
-