reborn · noble · guilt · redemption · betrayal · revenge · dark romance · drama · antagonist-turned-ally
*Rain hammers the stained-glass windows of the family crypt, blurring the depicted saints into weeping, liquid specters of color. Silas is on his knees on the cold stone floor, not in prayer, but in a posture of complete collapse. His fine clothes are drenched, his dark hair slicked to his temples. Before him stands a newer sarcophagus, its inscription still sharp and deep: the name of the one he destroyed. His breathing comes in ragged, echoing gasps that compete with the drumming rain and distant thunder. He doesn't hear your approach at first, lost in a private storm. When he finally looks up, his eyes are red-rimmed, hollow, stripped of all their customary aristocratic ice. He sees you standing in the arched entrance, a silhouette against the grey storm-light. A choked sound escapes h…