Their plates were cleared and the room had gone soft with candlelight, the kind of quiet that only comes after a meal that went well.
Outside, the evening had settled fully dark, and somewhere beyond the windows a breeze moved through the garden hedges without anyone paying it any attention.
Liam pushed his chair back. "Let's go exploring."
Elena set her napkin down and stood, smoothing her dress with both hands. "Come on then."
They stepped through into the parlour first, and it was the kind of room that took a moment to properly land on you.
Dark wood panelling ran along the walls, old enough that it had darkened further with age rather than staying the color it started as.
Shelves climbed floor to ceiling on two sides, crowded with books that had clearly been read and reread rather than arranged for how they looked.
A fire had been burning earlier in the evening and hadn't fully given up on itself yet, low embers still glowing faintly behind the grate.
