The Mistress
She didn’t turn around when she heard his footsteps, but her shoulders tensed.
“Is he still inside?” she asked.
“He’s with his family now,” Zander replied.
The first window shattered. The sound of breaking glass echoed across the valley like a gunshot. A column of thick, black smoke began to pour out of the library, rising into the cold night sky. The “House of Thorns,” as the locals had called the Blackwood mansion for a century, was finally being purged.