eptember arrived with a dry crispness that settled into the curtains and beneath the floorboards

staircase painted on stone shimmered faintly under newly installed museum lighting. The small golden f

ricked wall. They weren't angry. They weren't even mournful. They were quiet. Observat

t to erase me," h

my name on the i

s stayed

oor. He had just returned from Velbridge with a stack of co

id, dropping a manila envelo

already war

rom Greythorn & Parrish. No

gainst the crisp paper. Inside was a formal letter

custodians of

ck estate, not in land or title, but in blood. I as

.

ked. "Ano

ms. "Or someone wh

threat, no legal demand. But something about the phrasing no

ak to them," s

r a long time. Then h

reading room. No public announcement. No record in the visito

ecision. She was in her early thirties, plainly dressed in a navy coat, hair tightly knotted at th

the woman said. "And

no smile. "A

"My mother was Ada Thornwick. She was born out of wedlock to Julian Thornwick and a housemaid.

long presumed to have died in a war abroad. If Delia's claim was true, she w

now it's gone. And I don't want it. But the story you're

d his eyes.

someone is telling the truth about this place. And because I w

ce in Delia's voice. Just need. A quiet hu

a chair. "Then

elia became an unexpected

, even helped restore the garden that Lady Ansel had once designed. Mira watched her carefull

he fragments of a family

recordings salvaged from wax cylinders staff

semaid named Mara, describin

was just a boy. They said he'd gone mad,

"So it's true," she said. "They buried h

nd we're still

attention. Scholars came from other cities. Histor

copied without approval, and no documents could l

ce with a copy of The Velbridge Gazette

SE: THE TRUE STORY

the subheading: Illegitimate heirs. Forgotten fires. Fals

he paper

his," Mira said, eyes

ken to someone on

f tea. "But they've been sniffing around. I heard someone of

ath. "We need to protect

s already

and truth had a

e house still half restored, untouched by tourists. She neede

Ellison Family Private. Inside were remnants from he

recognize. Sealed in brown wax. Her nam

t with tremb

i

this, then the hou

s alone. But if anyone was going t

chapel wall, where the records were never meant to go. T

tory even

the letter to her ches

sn't

ke open the chapel's west wall behind a pa

nts. Not the elegant ledgers of estate manag

. Medical files stamped Suppressed. Transc

the dust, h

orse than

a single do

ales under false name. Father unknown. Suspected ties

vered h

"We have to publis

whisper. "It'll d

l destroy what sh

nto the dark.

e winter exhibition. We show them not just the beauty