-

r Thre

her long after she le

li

a gown associated with death. Evelyn had felt something-almost like a pulse-as her fingertips grazed the

t

the shush of candlelight. Sleep wouldn't come. She lay in bed with the covers drawn to her chin, s

ad sh

rly. Another woma

. Evelyn dressed quickly and skipped breakfast, returning to the dressing room with new resolve.

uette suggested the early Edwardian era, perhaps 1905 or 1906. A time of quiet rebelli

ut on velvet and be

n scrap of muslin paper with blurred

ian b

passed th

low. In one of the cuff seams, a button had been replaced with a small black bead-not orig

ssage th

ket

h high cheekbones and a mouth slightly parted as if caught in the middle o

rtrait, a si

ra Th

-

notes, she now kept the sketches, the scraps, and the fragments she dared not leave in the open

were

t of glamour or elegance, but of surveillance. Fear. Women caugh

esence of Lilian lurking

at afternoon in the ha

Lilian?"

st slightly. "W

o one of the gowns. And a

y Thorne had many visitors.

not an

house remembers what others for

-

crumbling romances, and dry accounts of textile trades from centuries past. But in a slim volu

was never formally announced. She vanished prior to the engagement's formal debut. Local rec

the words with

vani

arry Alaric, and Isadora had worn the death gown later-

ped the

host the house r

-

, she drea

n't the girl in r

. High-ceilin

bleeding, fingers pricked by a thousand needles. The mannequins around her weren't

turned to

li

ead. Her voice caught in her throat. And as Lilian reached

heet was torn where

bed, someone had placed

-

t Alaric the

ight against the wind. His profile was sharp, as though sculpted rath

said, standing beside him

spond for a

ever meant

appened

love with the

reath caug

n, something dark fl

hou

truck her l

e-w

auty in the bones. Heard stories in the walls.

isappe

d," he said qui

stomach churn. "

ecome something else. So

wled across

n. Because you understand the language of fabric

heart pounding. "Yo

aid. "The

-

eturn to her su

d to the dr

paper wrapped and bound with silk cord. When she unraveled it, the

ain. Gossamer sleeves. Beading so fine it shimmer

ed it in

gged black threa

first. I will

ay, breath catch

seemed

if sighing, and then-v

vo

nd

the mannequins.

eneath a tapestry she hadn't i

, fingers trembling,

d it:

Faintly

in th

dden

hands to it. The

was no

t knowing how-that

at the foot

tone bega

-