Cassandra>
The next two days were probably the quietest I’d ever known since arriving at Blackthorne Manor.
Having emotionally checked out from everything that had to do with Dominic felt like shedding a coat made of lead. I threw myself entirely into the small, functional life I had built inside these stone walls.
I spent my mornings on the terrace with Delphine, listening to her vibrant, unfiltered updates on the 'restructuring' of the household staff while I casually ate my bowl of fresh berries. I spent my afternoons in the eastern gardens with Sarah, learning about the winter-blooming flora while Gideon stood a few paces away, quietly carrying the flower baskets and grumbling about the frost. And in the evenings, I retreated to the vast expanse of the Manor library, burying myse
