whisper Beneath the silk

-

ne: The Qu

se didn

or scream or claw

ply st

s of haunting-it c

melled different now-like dust that no longer carried secrets. The journals were gone. The altar beneath the

ned the

, its heather rippling in the wi

t no tug in her chest. No ache

still

somehow, w

-

warming the tattered upholstery. The child was curle

s no longe

ker, no

pre

ol

iv

r, heart caught in her

es-grey as winter ash

d. "I didn't always get it

yed pillow seam. "I wasn't just her daughter," she sa

kno

. "But you bro

voice trembling. "I

ed-soft, rea

ard and kissed

he van

scr

ist o

t g

bre

-

he library, cat

lay open, their contents meaningles

t hear h

ietly, unsure if the man who had emerged from

, startled,

d the house to

aid. "But I'm not

his steps now-no guilt dragging behind him

pens now?

he wrong

ted hi

ouse is quiet. But that doesn

it will c

But memory... memory always linger

unsure what he hoped

sking to keep the story going," s

ed for h

d just

earn how to

curved. "The

-

steps soft over the earth, the wind tuggi

ric said. "When I was young. Bef

didn'

ed. And I thought I owed it to her to

uin," Evelyn said quietly.

. "And maybe I've

ind s

ething small-a piece of fabric, frayed at the ed

ded it

id. "Not as a reli

it gently

beauty can

-

velyn dreamt

as she had once been, sitting in a garden, thr

nelt bes

s sewing someth

the corners of her eyes. "Stitching is remembering

e ones t

ially

ed for her m

as w

li

e

with tears, and the sky beyond her

-

ers came d

by the

rom the edges of the path, eyes wide w

ad-quiet,

r no longer gr

hts no longe

dows no long

nor gates for the fi

e wind pa

he ivy g

e silence

-

t followed, Evel

e crimson

ne-leather-bou

f the seams

l in the g

showed not reflec

not for

r the

women who ca

or he

rd was

tence, a

like a vessel-and more like a woma

-

d Alaric in the east

en't blo

horns wer

owly, eyeing the

you were the g

replied. "But

sm

glove and anothe

rds, they work

't forg

s somethi

-

crept in so

old and cruel, wa

by m

by c

sew, but to watch the light fall through the

emem

Alaric j

mes he

at was

t came, would come

an invi

-

the locket from her

of Lilian, her face barely

ed it with so

ap of

in her own

in a

and walked to the

once shimmere

held on

ol

an

ou

-

ll Alaric she

ight

nal on the windowsill, and slipped into t

f the moor, s

tood quiet

nger

ger ha

y o

y h

sm

walke

hatever

the u

-

-