"Gillian, are you going to keep staring at that bookshelf as if the answer to all of life's mysteries is hidden behind a volume of ancient law?" Ghea asked, her voice breaking through the heavy silence of the secret library.
Gillian stood perfectly still, his hand resting on the spine of a leather-bound book. He did not turn around immediately. The secret library was his sanctuary, a place buried deep beneath the foundations of Mourning Manor where the sunlight never dared to venture. It was filled with the smell of aging parchment, dust, and the faint, lingering scent of the lavender soap Ghea used. He had brought her here for the first time, a decision that felt both like a monumental mistake and an inevitable surrender.
"Some answers are better left unread, Ghea," Gillian finally r
