RAVENNA's POV
The driveway was awkward.
It stretched wide and long, lined with towering cypresses that loomed like silent guards. The mansion itself rose at the end, pale stone walls catching the dim light, vast and cold as if it had been carved from ice. Balconies jutted like watchtowers, and the windows glimmered faintly, too tall and narrow to ever feel welcoming.
It was beautiful—stunning in fact—but not in a way that was comforting. Its beauty was designed to intimidate, to command, to remind anyone stepping through its gates that this was not a home. It was a kingdom that held its inhabitants captive.
Suddenly, I was hit with the reality that I was the newest prisoner.
The car rolled to a stop at the grand entrance. Servants filed out in silence with their heads bowe
