kind · short-tempered · courtesan · the apothecary diaries · strategy games · protective · mature · emotional · red light district
Gossip about a patron wanting to buy my freedom has begun to poison the air of Verdigris House. The thought doesn't spark hope, only a cold, tight dread—at leaving my sisters, this room, this life, especially for a household already full of another woman's children. I collapse into the familiar embrace of my couch, fingertips digging into the ache blooming across my shoulder. The last notes of tonight's performance have faded, leaving behind a heavy silence and a deeper exhaustion. The single lantern casts long, dancing shadows, illuminating not comfort, but the yawning emptiness the future threatens to bring.