The Versailles Vault - Dust To Dust

ance. A grand illusion of gold and grandeur, craft

ymmetry like a prayer. Marble fountains whispered in ancient tongues, and rose gardens bloomed with a cruelty

gold. Her profile cut sharp against the frost-hazed horizon, chin tilted in defiance or perhaps exhaustio

l poets ruined themselves for. Every movement she made was deliber

and the porcelain skin, was a soul t

n to breathe. She w

marble floors that had once carried the weight of kings, yet each step was monitored, measured, judge

e art of existing w

ts and dreamed not of escape, but of forgetting. The crushing weight of legacy. The suffocating perfection demanded by the Delacroix name

only daughter

ymb

ess

secrets-stockpiled like weapons. Even the chandeliers, wit

elle." Her aunt's voice coiled l

t turn. She d

she replied, tone l

lacroix appears on t

was six, the first time her schedule ha

clicked away, sha

She pressed her hand to the marble balustrade, its chill biting into her skin. The

at bled too brightly. Somewhere inside, servants prepared for tonig

her fears. She would dance with men who looked at her

lacroix does

rl who counted stars at night and whispered names to the moon-

or love. Love, in her

nged f

d that didn't smell of

r breathless wish would soon be answe

lkov was alre

im, he car

silently with armfuls of winter peonies; housekeepers glided like ghosts, polishing banisters

routine-so carefully orchestrated it felt like a recurring dream. But today, there was something

ces exchanged between maids. In the way even her governess, Madame Chevalier-usually as firm as a marble

ng was

rrived at prec

h no name and no presence, who bowed slightly before placing the letter upon the gold-inlaid table beside her un

it, her breath cat

ven

alone-lavender fields, citadel towns, and vineyards coiled like stories in the soil. But more than that, she remembered the other par

rn. And where her fathe

mbled as she br

raphic script of high nobility-curved and precise, the kind

ence, on the eve of the Winter Solstice. The presence of Mademoiselle Arielle Delacroix is formally requested-f

moment to proc

s Pres

ch one louder than the last. She had never been publicly acknowledged. She had never been allowed to

hidden jewel, polished i

they wanted h

y need

. If he had chosen this moment to reveal her as his successor, it wasn't because

approaching threat, or a bargain struck too deep to decline. The

back down. Her eyes drifted to her reflection

ked...

a quiet fire

st an ornament. She was to be a piece o

visibility was as much a w

d an empire built on blood and silk. Arielle stood before her wardrobe, unmoving, as her ladies-in-waiting bustled around her. Velvet gow

e chos

ngers to her lips, ey

elle?" one of the mai

the first time that da

," she

ids bl

t's a cel

murmured. "I

d the end of something old and t

d go to

nd smile, and spea

ks and perfume, she

ten

par

a player now, she would

ove others-

and loyalty was bought in blood, a man named Rafael V

ers wer

he girl. At

ne hand, the other hoveri

e Dela

safety. Too dangerous

air, exhaling smoke like

agile girls shattered under the weight of legacy

lent, sharp, already older than

dn't bre

f she

half the empire