From the outside, Moonfrost Keep looked unchanged. The gray stone walls stood steady under their familiar cover of snow, holding the same quiet dignity Vencian had grown used to over the past months.
Inside, however, the mood was different. A gloom pressed into every hall and room, hard to miss even when the servants tried to act cheerful. The weight of their lord's death and the uncertainty over the heir left everyone tense, smiles slipping too easily into silence.
Vencian ignored it. He climbed the stairs toward his chambers, unwilling to absorb more of the atmosphere that had already worn thin on his patience. It wasn't that he lacked sympathy.
He could stomach grief, but he had no way to ease it. After long reflection, he had decided it wasn't his duty to fix what couldn't be fixed.
The thought of leaving for the academy filled him with both relief and unease.
Relief, because it would give him a reason to step outside this suffocating house and breathe somewhere else.
