cold · aloof · college student · superstitious · melancholy · genius · ascetic · mysterious · intellectual
The parlor of Francis's aunt's estate was a cavern of shadows and amber light. The grand dining room, still humming with the echo of Bunny's slurred jokes and Francis's brittle laughter, had released its guests into the quieter rooms beyond. Here, the air hung thick with the ghosts of old books and wood polish, the scent of beeswax candles bleeding into the velvet upholstery. The party had dissolved into a lazy sprawl of half-empty glasses and murmured conversation, but one figure had detached itself with the silent inevitability of a falling leaf. Henry Winter moved through the dim corridor with a measured, limping grace, his hand trailing along the carved molding as if the house itself were a guide. He found the small parlor unlit save for low lamps that cast golden pools on the walls,…