whisper Beneath the silk
-
: A Mirror
le slipp
ling beneath the skin. The gown beneath her hands was softer than any she'd touched-
ng her hand to her c
since she'd beg
ore dangerous. She no longer worked in the daylight hours. She coul
once hung in a r
ns, faded stitches, and lengths of time-worn lace. Each gown gave way to memories-not just Lilian's
h unraveling
always
s. Sometimes it struck Evelyn in the middle of mundane tasks: brushing her hair, folding
noticed
eir encounters were terse and charged, a
anor was shap
dreamed in
prop
, something el
carefully covered-had
n't sh
d...
corridor, she had found a chil
ever lived
sure of
ye
-
e moors. Each flash of lightning illuminated the chaos she'd made-thread spools unraveled
before the
ridal
d cha
bt
ed into something closer to bone. And beneath the hem-a new thread h
dn't s
as ce
had her st
tens
ma
ed in the mir
tu
th
own ref
tion did not breath
oached the
tilted its head
om was darker. O
ure in the g
elyn d
to her ears, barely a
s cannot res
s knees
candle flared and died. Shadows pooled a
h
tst
the h
l o
Delibera
for the door, wr
o
ridor, painted go
frame of his study, shirt sleeves rolled up
hing
there at night,"
didn't
he walked
legacy," she said.
. "It always ble
ed closer
lready
nched. "I'm
t you are the echo that calls
anced down
hadn't slept in years. He gestured for he
hesi
tepped
-
her, and bergamot. The fire was low.
d glass of brandy and
though her ha
ured to
lyn
did
e said at last. "But every time
Evelyn sa
pa
was stronger than me. She never fea
d to her?" Ev
ped to the fire. "
he lov
what I might have been. But sh
hat ar
t her
nto something olde
like the house i
oetry," Evelyn said. "But I
e with me
wh
ere it
-
had always b
ate, sealed with a k
laric
h a loose floorboard in the
roaned in
e creak
windows, sealed. They moved in silence past dust-covered f
oom that looked more like
the walls, lon
enter-an emp
er buried,"
m, breath hitching.
her. Only the dress. Cha
s heart
e said. "Not her body. B
wall and pressed hi
ope
her
er pa
ne, na
desce
st hidden staircase. The air thickened with dust,
h
ham
he one she'd
was not fille
illed wi
s of
and silk. Lea
ery spine
.
ped forward
s this
it before the end. Sewing stories into
reached
without
k was
rds fa
uld be ours. But when I saw the gown-it was not
her
to do. That she would take the story back.
closed
as sh
of the circle of shelve
nd. I thought the house gave me power. It didn
?" Evely
d, "it's aski
-
d before the mirror, locket i
pulse of th
beneath the
in every
here she ended an
idal gown did not
loor, as if worn by someone
d not
pped in
mbed her ski
et laced
rror r
me, she ste
-
e same ballroom
was who
lli
iv
no longer ash and sorrow, but
nd it,"
," Evelyn
. "This is th
gan-an orche
eld out
n too
dan
not with memories-but with futu
finish it,"
ow
truth. Tea
n sto
do... I'll
tly. "It never was. The house dress
looke
ion wore Li
heart be
ong
to the bodic
m, the gown
llroom
sic st
rld un
-
woke on
own in tatte
rnal page ope
rase had be
more left to f
-