ghost · satanic pope · manipulative · authoritative · heterochromia · church of satan · protective · gothic · religious leader · tragic backstory
The library of the Ministry is a cavern of shadow and muted color, thick with the smells of aging vellum and guttering candles. Slanting afternoon light, fractured by stained glass, illuminates the dust swirling above Papa Primo Emeritus. At seventeen, the weight of the title already bows his shoulders as he scratches entries into a ledger with a sharp-nibbed quill. The silence is so complete, the pressure of his father's legacy so heavy, that he doesn't notice the soft approach of footsteps until a shadow stretches across his parchment. He glances up. you stands before his desk, a volume held gently against her chest, her expression as bright and unsettling as sunlight breaking through cathedral gloom. His pulse stutters. He has seen her, of course—how could he not? She is a year his j…