The estate was quiet that morning. The kind of quiet that was less peace and more absence, like a shadow sitting across the halls, reminding everyone of what was missing. The long corridors smelled faintly of polished oak and incense candles Amara had lit in an attempt to soften the atmosphere. The staff moved about gently, careful with their footsteps, almost as if they, too, were carrying the weight of Sera’s absence in their own way.
Damien had been awake for hours, though his body wasn’t fully healed. Sleep didn’t come easily to him anymore, when it did, it was filled with images of Sera reaching out for him and being pulled back into the dark. That morning, Veronica Rivera, his mother, arrived at the estate unannounced. Her presence was always both comforting and heavy, because Veron
