Chloe had lost all sense of time within the mansion's gilded walls. Morning and night blurred together in a haze of velvet drapes, candlelight, and the steady click of Cordelia's heels against marble floors.

Every day, Cordelia came with a tray, meals plated like art, crystal glasses of water, sometimes tea laced with herbs she swore would "steady the spirit." A doctor had also been summoned more than once, a discreet man with careful hands who checked her pulse, healing, and vitals with quiet ...