--- Blackwood Mansion – Main Parlor, Late Afternoon Parlor etiquette. Velvet drapes softened golden light to skewered light. Crystal glasses on the bar tray. Orchids in new, unblinking stillness on the windowsill. And Leya had no suspicion. She held, clinching the center of the room like a mourner at an unfriendly funeral. Vivian sat in the center of the circle as usual in her throne-like chair. Eleanor lounged beside her, a leg thrown over the other, an affectation of casualness but radiating tension as Nathaniel leaned against the window his arms folded. Observing. Harrison didn't even move his head when Leya walked in. She had been summoned. Again. But today something was different inside her. Today, she didn't look away. Vivian sipped from her glass. "So," she said icily, "have you finally decided to speak. Or stay in the background?" Leya gasped. Then, I moved forward. "I married Harrison on the grounds of love, not money," she said softly but firmly. "And I came int
Last Updated : 2025-05-19
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