Chapter 23 The Visitor In Silk Shadows

• Morning came in muted gray light, the storm having quieted into a soft, steady rain. The mansion felt hollow, as if the night’s confessions and clashes had carved open something raw inside its walls. Elena dressed simply—a cream blouse and dark skirt,not because she cared about appearance, but because her hands needed something to do besides tremble.
• Damian had left early. Or perhaps he simply didn’t want to be seen.
• The mansion, vast and echoing, bore his absence like a bruise.