A dense, suffocating heaviness drapes itself over the estate this evening, as though the very stones sense the escalating tensions that swirl just beneath the surface. Outside, storm clouds mass together in brooding clusters, the sky fractured by flickers of distant lightning. With each building rumble of thunder, I feel a tangible quiver thrumming through these ancient walls, a forewarning of the chaos coiling within.
-
I brush my palm lightly along the cold, uneven stone of the corridor, each footstep a slow, deliberate echo in the hush. Somewhere further inside the mansion, furniture is being upended or doors slammed, who can say which, anymore? People are restless, nerves fraying as the vow’s dark demands pit desire and power against each other. My heart thuds harder with every muted
