Ashes and Crowns

carved into the cold marble floors and whispered behind closed doors. She wa

ws of gleaming silverware until her fingers were raw and aching. The polished sur

ere you're going, maid," she sneered, deliberately bumping into Eliana

keep the tears at bay. She dared not retalia

most degrading tasks - cleaning the muddy boots of guests, emptyin

ped her and in a low and menacing voice "Remember your place

tic drum. She wanted to scream, to fight back - but the fear of

ners of the mansion, small

man based on principles and as such was gentle to Eliana. One afternoon, as sh

e weight. His voice was gravelly b

the unexpected remark and warm

treated Eliana like a person, not a shadow. They shared stolen moments in the garden, w

of poetry. "You should read this," she sai

t, the delicate pages a fragile prom

, with thin walls that did little to muffle the sounds of the famil

awing at her. She whispered the stories her father once told her,

e sharp knives through the sky. Eliana, soaked and shivering after bei

her roughly. "If it weren't for Mom's

fiance flickering to life inside her. "I'm not noth

anna and dragging her hair threw her to

pain quietly, to move like a ghost through the halls. She lis

storm was gathering - one that would one day shatte