DEL MORINO
I sat in my study staring out the window. This morning the expansive estate seemed incredibly peaceful. Birds were chirping in the distance as the sun which had just begun to rise shone over the well-kept gardens.
But the quiet was oppressive as if something were dangling in midair just waiting to move.
I absently scanned the edge of my desk with my fingers, letting my thoughts stray to the same things that had been on my mind for the previous few weeks.
I heard a knock and I turned slightly in anticipation of seeing a servant as the door creaked open. But my brother Finn was standing in the doorway. Today, his normally composed manner seemed strange.
His posture had a kind tension that I couldn't quite place. I noticed a change in his expression and a lift of the weig
