ge, Aut
wl, her gloved hands resting stiffly on her lap. The road twisted through mist-draped fields, each bend unveiling more of the landscape she hadn't seen in f
paired it. Neit
ent to unfinished grief. Its west wing was still blackened, five years after the fire. The roof sagged in places, and vines curled thro
iver, though th
letter claimed. A formal summons, st
tion of Thornwick Hall's records before the new heir
fficial.
almost b
, here
d on the door's iron latch, heart quickening as the scent of damp earth and burnt wood
pillar. Windows warped from heat. Stone blackened by soot but ne
o, miss?" the driver asked from his se
he said, her
odded and reached back to l
arms straining with the weight of books and letters, and
uch. Inside, the air was thick with dust and old silence. Light slanted in from tall window
red this place. The scent of beeswax and old parchment. The hollow e
al. Quiet. Steady in w
n't come to the estate. She had stayed away away from the whispers, away from the grief that re
s final
't have. If anything happens,
ll warm from his hand. And yet what haunted
ent it late. He would
, she learn
liver it only if something happened. But when the estate burned and guards sealed off the grounds, Niall panicked. He feared punishm
to the boy. But she
allway was broken
come through th
but clean, the lapels pinned with a small insignia she couldn't place. A thin scar curved across his jaw,
you," she sa
detail. I'm here on beha
w I was
s to know who walks into places like this.
ll. "You kno
our brother was Tomas. And I know
ence wasn't agreement, bu
were sharp, but not unki
ng for the tru
l. "Then we may have
g as years of dust billowed into the corridor. Inside, the room was exactly as she remembered: shelves of ledgers, stacked f
er shelf and pulled the
broke the silence. Something small had falle
ther
on thick, brittle paper, edges yellowed by time. No signature. But one thing
he first l
stolen names and ruined lives. The fire did not
art po
nown. He'd
d cost hi
y. Mira sat at a long table beneath the flicker of weak firelight. The letters were spread
Leo appeared in the doorway,
up late,
ay the sam
g at the letters bu
d. "My father had one like it. Bef
. "Your fathe
ts-taking property from tenant families by forging claims. When he tried to speak up, they cr
ed his ja
said quietly. "And t
her might've been trying to
to hers. "Maybe t
she turned one of the pages. On
t returns, the house
er spine. She didn't k
red at it made her
apers laid out in organized rows. The house remained quiet, but never st
heavy with presence. Beneath a loose floorboard, she found a journal.
three recurring
sked Leo. "W
. "Aster
as no Aster in the fa
se they er
n't ela
way he said it made