The deeper they moved into the estate, the more the silence pressed in on them. Dust clung to every surface like a thick veil of time, and cobwebs stretched across the corridors like brittle warnings.
Penny trailed behind Darius, her footsteps muffled by the faded rug lining the hall. Her arms were folded tight, both out of unease and the lingering irritation at his earlier teasing.
"Where are we even going?" she finally asked.
Darius didn't stop. "The library."
She frowned. "And you think it's still intact?"
"Not intact," he murmured. "But not burned either. If the Steffords truly dabbled in what I suspect, they wouldn't have kept everything out in the open. And the library—" he paused, glancing at her, "—was never just for reading."
