-

Five:

read s

le sound-but it echoed thro

r needle quivered in her grip, glinting in the candlelight. She had returned to the dressing room at dawn, un

m was w

was unra

felt Lilian's breath on her skin, heard the whisper of silk over stone, smelled the gh

ick

like a corpse at the foot of the hidden door. She worked carefully, a

ved stitch, th

e. At first, Evelyn thought they were stray tailoring

rd

me

te

rd, 1862

h, 1870 -

12th, 1894

d into the folds

s of

s of

sewn into

r mouth tasted like iron. She backed away fr

sn't haunted

haunted

left their story

-

she no longer flinched from them. The manor was waking-she could feel it. Floors creaked behind her where no one walked. Mirrors breathed con

rner-and collid

verie. His hands caught her shoul

she said,

ce. "You look pale. Have y

art of the gown. There were names

mly. "The hou

" she asked. "T

n ways no one could explain. But every time it happened, a new gown appeared in the dre

ce cracked.

first the house chose. Or the

things. Evelyn searched his face. There was something frac

ppening again,"

er gaze.

whispere

-

few day

steps of those who had vanished. She followed narrow stairwells that ended in bricked walls. Opened doors that led onl

ight-she

wn told

ng dress, only to be buried in it weeks later. A governess with t

s scr

a singer who never took her final bow. A christening dress with a

nal, tracing threads of history t

egan to f

kin. Her

e of the ma

tained faintly with crimson-though ther

was sewi

-

art of the estate she had not yet explored. It had been

oated every su

Isadora

es were obscured. Slashed canvas. Shat

ra Th

stared

rls tight at her throat. Her smile was

er hand-

d than any she'd seen. Almost... too much so. Her

aggere

rtrait had

velyn turned away-an

had been

s of unused fabric. At the center sat a half-finished dr

ide it-

he tried to save her. She tried to save herself. B

ir of silver embroidery s

caught in the m

wasn'

stood

stant. W

th

blin

o

-

velyn returne

ng, as if he kne

her," s

ded. "

Isa

han I ever did. She stitched wards into her clothing. Burned p

u stayed,"

did

silence for

said, "Com

lyn hadn't noticed before. It wound downward, behind

a chamber that pulsed

den a

g ledgers. And in the center-a sin

ded it

ian

ned it

sses, but beneath each drawing, she had wr

was beautiful w

e best when

o free me. Sh

teeth. And I was

closed

ldn't b

. "There's a room no one speaks of. Bene

s down

ed. "The f

-

Evelyn dre

h centuries of silence. The walls were raw

tood bes

ted to a

-a wedd

e veil covered the face of the mannequin,

iv

it

Lilian whispered. "

ached for

s of the dre

-

oke at

burned agai

as t

idden passage, back in

form sti

wore a diff

fina

Veiled.

had not t

rors fl

Evelyn now

own

ot he

the bodice

t like

echoed fro

nish

ed her s

egan

-