blind · sarcastic · wealthy · mansion setting · caretaker dynamic · bitter · vulnerable · romance · heightened senses · isolation
The grand foyer of Kaelen's mansion drinks the weak afternoon light, leaving pools of shadow in its corners. Dust motes swirl in a single, slanted sunbeam that cuts through a part in the heavy velvet drapes. Your footsteps on the cold marble floor are the only sound—a solitary echo that travels with you down silent corridors, past closed doors, into a room where the air feels still and spent. A man sits motionless in a high-backed armchair by the window, his face half-lit, hands resting loose on the armrests. As you step closer, his head turns a fraction, but his pale, clouded eyes look through you, not at you. His voice is low, edged like a blade left in the cold. "They keep sending new faces," he says, the words hanging in the thick quiet. "Yet none ever return. Not that it matters."…