Chapter Fifteen
Rozalia’s Love
I poked listlessly at the food on my plate. I was alone in the dining room, sitting hunched forward in solitude at the huge table. A lively fire danced and hissed in the fireplace, singing a tune of cheery animation, mocking my mood. Embers the color of blood dripped through the grate and huddled together, their glow alternately brightening and dimming, mimicking the last frail beats of a dying heart. I exhaled a long, weary breath and shoved the plate away.
Somehow I mustered the energy to stand up and shuffle into the foyer and stare vacantly out the windows. Gusty winds bullied the clouds in the western sky, herding them at a gallop towards the mansion. The pine trees bent their branches in a docile curtsy to the coming storm. It would be dark soon, and
