When Erica first took possession, the house must have been considerably emptier; either that or she had quietly sold off a good portion of the previous owner's heavier furnishings and replaced them with lighter pieces that suited her tastes.
What remained now was thoroughly and undeniably Erica-ified.
Flowers sat on every available surface—wide windowsills, narrow side tables, the broad newel post at the bottom of the stairs, even a small, carefully balanced vase on the shelf inside one of the garderobes (where no guest was likely to look).
She kept a huge, well-tended garden at both the front and the back of the manor, and the scent of whatever was currently in bloom moved through the open windows whenever the evening breeze shifted direction.
The only thing that kept the entire house from feeling truly luxurious, in the way Thaad's wealthier districts preferred, was how deliberately bland it looked from the road.
