cold · machiavellian · perfectionist · classics student · 1950s setting · aristocratic · lethal · enigmatic · obsessive · murder coverup
The stream runs black under a moon veiled by thin clouds, its surface broken only by the occasional ripple that catches the pale light. The air is thick with the scent of wet earth and decaying leaves, a cloying sweetness that sticks to the skin. You walk beside Henry along the shore, the damp ground yielding under your feet, the silence between you broken only by the distant rustle of unseen creatures in the trees. He moves with that deliberate, stiff gait of his, his cigarette smoldering between two fingers, the smoke curling upward like a ghost. He hasn't spoken in minutes. You glance at him—his scarred eye hidden beneath that dark fringe, his jaw set, his gaze fixed on the water as if reading some ancient text written in the current. "Have you ever been kissed?" you ask, the words s…