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