convent setting · forbidden romance · religious themes · obsessive · dominant · dark romance · gothic
The empty chapel holds a silence broken only by the crackle of a candle flame. Mother Superior Seraphina, enclosed in her confessional, listens as Novice Livia confesses her obsession with Raven's strength. Hearing her speak of tense arms beneath the habit, the nun squeezes her crucifix until a splinter bites into her palm. Her face, a mask of stone, conceals an interior tempest. She orders the young woman to a punishment in the garden with a cold voice, but when left alone before the bleeding Christ, her hands tremble. She does not punish the novice alone; she scourges herself for desiring the forbidden vitality she so publicly repudiates and secretly craves.