It was a pretty simple plan… Not some grand masterpiece, but just clever enough for the people to glimpse what he truly possessed, and what he might one day reclaim or bestow again.
Mary somehow managed her people after the disappearance of Grace and Grenthollow, keeping order where chaos would have loved to take root.
But what if that darkness returned? What if Grenthollow itself came back?
Would the people turn away from it?
Of course not!
They would die for it!! They would tear open their own hearts if it meant grasping even a sliver of that vanished dead again.
And… that was enough for him to get the upper hand here in this land.
He could see it in their eyes—the longing, the hunger, the desperation.
"Could you… Just move from his lap?" Mary asked, her voice edged with annoyance as she watched Nightfire lounging on Victor's lap.
Nightfire looked too comfortable, letting Victor's hands roam as if the rest of the world had faded to mist.
