whisper Beneath the silk

-

ght: The L

seamstress's room like dead petals, their frayed ed

w long she'd been

rners. The storm had passed, leaving the moors

ands

fell like something

ed, caught in a cold draft. Its words puls

more left to f

ation. The mirror stood undisturbed, but Evelyn felt its pull

oman who had arrived a

who'd asked to re

o'd first seen a gh

omething

ched from trut

e. So many stories, so many voices locked beneath floorboards and memory

ro

could not

ant to be

d fast-some lingering t

e

ssed throug

with a

the

truly left Si

t

eep spinning its tale-again and agai

Ala

Isa

her

-

ll Alaric wha

mmedi

t

he fire, the brandy untouched beside him. The shadows were

speak as s

't m

low stillness that felt mor

silent as smoke. "You knew I

t was always

hy

e didn't look away. "Because you were wil

said, more for herself than

crossed his face-pr

b

owed me the truth. The house doesn

y. "And it uses love

im, folding her hands in

es

u betra

"And I have lived in

voice. No justification. Onl

velyn said. "But she didn't. She chose t

one to finish wh

t the house

too a

between them,

d forward. "Then

-

idor bore sig

d's shoe

ece of parchment. Fresh.

t up with sh

y, Evelyn. Loosen the thread, o

igna

dwriting wa

note into her po

e her, as if stirring

ust beneath the surface. Dancers frozen mid-spin. A woma

ne whi

ept w

-

urn to the sea

nstead to

t one. The

o one had

, its iron door rusted with time. But Evelyn had the ke

ck res

yie

spiraling upw

asce

her bones, as though the hous

he cl

, the door

before her-not gr

l, round window. A bed, barely touched. Shelves of journals. Fabric swatch

e it, a p

standing beside Lord

ouched t

ngers

en Lilian's

ber. Not the seamst

h

to remember herself, before t

too-a journal on the bed,

n ope

als on t

a d

last

-

. Because it was never about me-it was about the echo. The one who will come after. If she finds this... if you find

t it

-

cked Evel

n had

of

patt

cy

velyn

she had lef

al st

e desk creaked open,

moors lay end

beneath the manor

al

else she had

ro

-

urned t

o the fire like it mi

r journal,"

dn't

nted it

l si

ot to let y

s, sharp and stricken.

s breat

en don't let that be th

ic s

ere's something you

-

he lowest leve

h the

he win

ne door carve

s of

wo

yn now recognized

narrowed in

lack wood, inscribed with a symbo

piercin

ic p

an," he said. "Not th

d open t

e: a

ndo

not

es. A bride burning at the altar. A mirror fractured over a k

, an altar dr

nlit candle

proached

ve, protect, and preserve. But I did

stepped

d n

ked up

ld bre

hed for

ld. Sharp

n the alta

o this alone

n't st

-

escended into the ar

oks aw

n's final journa

ir sh

luttere

ered red

yn began

arrival, the dreams, the gown

s whispere

blade and slit the spin

that beg

first lie: "He said

ges di

k turne

ed to t

the

estroyed wi

s returned

use gr

how

ors shattered one by one. The floo

Evelyn

last boo

r

rit

an

it on the

up the

d it wi

er name int

yn M

Li

the

e

ul

use sc

fell

-

ose, Silkenmoo

brig

quie

il

e feet, trailing the hem of her old

mp

r

rors we

owns,

study, Al

d of her steps, relie

till here

l me," sh

rd. Reached for

to love someone wi

with honesty

he

-

of the moor that even

nd them-no longer hun

t o

if I'll stay

on't h

ight com

you do, it'll be yo

didn't

re the mist met the grass, and f

ast t

ap

away from

d into th

-