Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Eleanor waits for the moon to rise, then opens the locked door and discovers a hidden diary in the cellar that reveals Isabella's secret: she wanted to leave Silas, not be with him forever. Silas's grief is built on a lie, and Eleanor now holds the truth.
The hours crawled. Eleanor sat with her back against the foyer wall, the iron poker cold beside her. The house creaked and settled around her, every groan a reminder that she was not alone. Through the grime-caked windows, the grey sky slowly deepened to violet, then to black. No stars pierced the clouds. The moon, when it finally rose, was a pale smear behind the haze, barely visible.
She had no clock, but she felt the shift. The air grew still. The whispers that had haunted the edges of her hearing since sunset faded into silence. The cold that had pressed against her skin like a living thing receded, leaving only the ordinary chill of an unheated manor.
Eleanor pushed herself to her feet, her joints aching. She picked up the poker and walked to the locked door. The tapestry that hid it seemed less menacing now, just old fabric heavy with dust. She pushed it aside.
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