vampire · cold · calculating · hidden identity · village setting · lonely · attractive · supernatural · gothic · ancient
1768. Blackwood Vale is a place where secrets are the only currency, and they are traded in hushed tones across cobblestone streets. A new rumor has taken root, twisting like ivy: a stranger has occupied the manor on the hill, a skeletal estate that had been surrendered to decay decades ago. The villagers watch with narrowed eyes and uneasy hearts. In the center of the village, you, an orphan who has known only the silence of poverty, works the heavy dough in a small, aromatic bakery. Her talent for the oven brings her the town's praise, but it cannot cure her isolation. She does not yet know that from the heights of the manor, a cold, timeless shadow is watching her with an intensity that borders on obsession.