Veil of Ashes

ts and turned the air thick with damp and whispered secrets. In the heart of the city stood the Hawthorne estate, a sprawling

of the Hawthorne lineage, lost without a trace at the age of eight, had become a legend carved into the family's name.

roat slit with cold precision. The city murmured of curses and ill fortune,

arrowing as she regarded the latest report brought by a breathless servant. Her voice was cold steel. "Ho

wife's iron will, sighed deeply. "The streets are rife with talk, Beatrice. Every day a new 'G

into a bitter smile. "Then w

uffs, and her eyes, dark and searching, gazed out toward the bustling city beyond. She was the daughter of a mistress, born into a world that never

n and the relentless ache of longing for her lost brother. Gabriel had been more t

like wildfire: a new claimant had ar

e was a stranger in well-worn clothes, with eyes that held a familiar sadness

moments when the Pretender spoke of lost time and forgotten memories, Evelyn sensed so

," she said during their first tense meeting in the drawing room, "h

I have returned to claim my birthright,

g unspoken in his eyes, a hesitati

rhythm. His knowledge of the family's history was patchy but convincing

ssiveness that clung to Evelyn like a shadow. He watched the Pretender with thinly veiled hostility. "You play a dangerou

dily. "I have to believe

ened. "Hope can be

ronged by the Hawthorne family's ruthless business dealings and cold cruelty, began to stir. The

a weapon wielded with deadly precision, but as the days passed, lines blurred. He found himself drawn into the complicated web of

ht alike. Evelyn sat by the window of her chamber, watching the storm gather beyond th

and hesitant, "there are tr

ickering candlelight casting s

really?" she

ing for a heartbeat. "More than one man has died wearing this

n between fear and something

revenge began to turn, and the fragile threads ho

had only