-

: A Mirror

le slipp

ling beneath the skin. The gown beneath her hands was softer than any she'd touched-

ng her hand to her c

since she'd beg

ore dangerous. She no longer worked in the daylight hours. She coul

once hung in a r

ns, faded stitches, and lengths of time-worn lace. Each gown gave way to memories-not just Lilian's

h unraveling

always

s. Sometimes it struck Evelyn in the middle of mundane tasks: brushing her hair, folding

noticed

eir encounters were terse and charged, a

anor was shap

dreamed in

prop

, something el

carefully covered-had

n't sh

d...

corridor, she had found a chil

ever lived

sure of

ye

-

e moors. Each flash of lightning illuminated the chaos she'd made-thread spools unraveled

before the

ridal

d cha

bt

ed into something closer to bone. And beneath the hem-a new thread h

dn't s

as ce

had her st

tens

ma

ed in the mir

tu

th

own ref

tion did not breath

oached the

tilted its head

om was darker. O

ure in the g

elyn d

to her ears, barely a

s cannot res

s knees

candle flared and died. Shadows pooled a

h

tst

the h

l o

Delibera

for the door, wr

o

ridor, painted go

frame of his study, shirt sleeves rolled up

hing

there at night,"

didn't

he walked

legacy," she said.

. "It always ble

ed closer

lready

nched. "I'm

t you are the echo that calls

anced down

hadn't slept in years. He gestured for he

hesi

tepped

-

her, and bergamot. The fire was low.

d glass of brandy and

though her ha

ured to

lyn

did

e said at last. "But every time

Evelyn sa

pa

was stronger than me. She never fea

d to her?" Ev

ped to the fire. "

he lov

what I might have been. But sh

hat ar

t her

nto something olde

like the house i

oetry," Evelyn said. "But I

e with me

wh

ere it

-

had always b

ate, sealed with a k

laric

h a loose floorboard in the

roaned in

e creak

windows, sealed. They moved in silence past dust-covered f

oom that looked more like

the walls, lon

enter-an emp

er buried,"

m, breath hitching.

her. Only the dress. Cha

s heart

e said. "Not her body. B

wall and pressed hi

ope

her

er pa

ne, na

desce

st hidden staircase. The air thickened with dust,

h

ham

he one she'd

was not fille

illed wi

s of

and silk. Lea

ery spine

.

ped forward

s this

it before the end. Sewing stories into

reached

without

k was

rds fa

uld be ours. But when I saw the gown-it was not

her

to do. That she would take the story back.

closed

as sh

of the circle of shelve

nd. I thought the house gave me power. It didn

?" Evely

d, "it's aski

-

d before the mirror, locket i

pulse of th

beneath the

in every

here she ended an

idal gown did not

loor, as if worn by someone

d not

pped in

mbed her ski

et laced

rror r

me, she ste

-

e same ballroom

was who

lli

iv

no longer ash and sorrow, but

nd it,"

," Evelyn

. "This is th

gan-an orche

eld out

n too

dan

not with memories-but with futu

finish it,"

ow

truth. Tea

n sto

do... I'll

tly. "It never was. The house dress

looke

ion wore Li

heart be

ong

to the bodic

m, the gown

llroom

sic st

rld un

-

woke on

own in tatte

rnal page ope

rase had be

more left to f

-