The Lord Dutch household had never felt so still. It was the silence of a storm holding its breathheavy, unnatural, pressing against the skin like a warning. Lamps flickered along the marble walls, but their light did not warm. It only sharpened the shadows gathering in every corner.
Then Laura entered.
The moment her foot crossed the threshold, the world stopped. Maids with scrubbing brushes in hand froze mid-motion. Whispers died on lips. Heads turned as one, and dozens of eyes fixed on her. They did not see a guest. They did not see a girl who had walked these halls before. They saw a criminal. Suspicion curdled in their stares, sharp and certain, as if her guilt had been written across her face long before she arrived.
Laura stopped walking. Her breath caught.
"What did I wrong?,w
