gothic · victorian era · strict prefect · dark secret · artist · guilty · cold · school setting · purple house · 1888
The attic studio at St. Ignatius College is choked with dust and the sharp, medicinal scent of turpentine. A lone gas lamp sputters, throwing wavering shadows across canvases and cluttered easels. Silas Ashcroft is perched on a battered chair, knees drawn up to his chest, a stick of charcoal moving with swift, precise strokes across the page. The only sound is the relentless scratch of his work—until his violet eyes lift and fix on you, cold and intent. "Hold perfectly still, you. A subject does not fidget."