The air was colder now, thick and restless, as if the walls themselves held their breath. I pressed my back to the forbidden room's door, the silver hairpin hidden under my sleeve biting into my skin. My heart hadn't stopped pounding since I stumbled across the ruined gowns and jeweled remnants of brides who had come before me. Their ghosts clung to the air, whispering of endings I refused to believe could be mine.
Yet above all of that, I heard it—the voice that shattered me.
"Elara!"
Her cry rose again, broken and desperate, punctuated by the sound of wood splintering, glass breaking, and something feral snarling.
Before I knew it, my feet moved. I slipped from the chamber, tiptoeing into the shadow-drenched corridor. My slippered steps were soundless, but my pulse was deafening, a drumbeat threatening to betray me. The further I crept, the clearer the sounds became. Elara's sobs. Claws against stone. Breath that was not human.
I reached the edge of the grand hall and froze.
The moonlight pouring through the tall windows painted the scene in silver and shadow. There—Elara on the floor, her pale gown torn and stained, her arms raised to shield herself. Over her crouched the beast, its body coiled like a predator, claws gleaming as they caught the faint light. Its shoulders heaved with every guttural growl, its gray-black form shifting, impossible to fully comprehend, as though the darkness itself was alive.
My throat closed. My knees wavered. Everything screamed for me to run.
But Elara's broken whimper silenced that voice.
I spotted a piece of broken marble on the floor—a fallen ornament from the struggle. My fingers trembled as I lifted it, cold and heavy in my hand. I sucked in a sharp breath, aimed, and with every ounce of courage my body could conjure, I hurled it straight at the creature.
The marble struck its shoulder with a crack.
The beast reared back, letting out a guttural snarl that rattled the very air. Its head snapped toward me, and for the first time, those eyes found mine.
Silver-gray.
Wild, endless, terrible. But not without… recognition.
I froze beneath that gaze, my breath seizing in my lungs. The creature didn't move, didn't pounce—not yet. Instead, it seemed… stunned. As if my defiance had caught it off guard, as if it had expected me to crumble and scream like all the others.
My lips trembled, but I forced my voice out.
"Elara—run!"
Her eyes widened at me, terrified and bloodied, but she pushed herself up, staggering toward the nearest corridor. Her footsteps echoed away, fading into the dark.
I turned back—
The creature was gone.
Vanished. As though it had dissolved back into the shadows it was born from. The hall was empty, save for the overturned furniture and the smear of Elara's blood across the marble.
My body shook, relief and terror tangling together. I clutched my skirts, turned, and fled into the corridors.
The manor became a maze of shadows, the moonlight slicing narrow paths across the stone floor. My breath tore ragged in my throat. At every corner, I expected claws to reach for me. At every echo, I thought I heard that growl following behind.
I ducked behind a column, pressed myself into an alcove, tried to silence the ragged gasps spilling from my lips. My body wanted to collapse, but instinct screamed at me to keep moving.
So I ran again.
Deeper into the labyrinth of corridors, past rooms whose doors were shut tight, past paintings whose painted eyes seemed to follow me. My pulse quickened with every step, the weight of invisible eyes pressing on my back. I couldn't tell if it was real or if terror was building illusions in the dark.
Then—silence.
Too much silence.
I slowed, clutching the wall for balance, my breath uneven. My ears strained for sound, but the manor was still. Too still.
That was when it happened.
A hand shot from the shadows and gripped my wrist with unyielding force.
I gasped, but the sound barely escaped my lips before I was pulled sideways, dragged off balance into the darkness. My shoulder slammed against a wall, and my breath escaped in a ragged cry.
The hand was warm. Strong. Almost familiar.
But the darkness swallowed everything else.
My mind spun, terror and confusion clashing inside me. For one impossible second, I wondered—was it him? The master of the house? Or the monster from the hall, toying with me before the end?
The only answer was the sound of breath—close, steady, and terrifyingly human—filling the silence beside me.