Aveline stepped out into the rain-washed grounds with nothing but Hamilton at her side, his familiar weight a quiet reassurance against her palm. Ahead of her, Kael walked with easy purpose, while she lingered a few steps behind, her gaze drifting—taking everything in with a kind of quiet wonder she couldn't quite hide.
It wasn't just the grandeur of the mansion that held her attention.
It was the silence.
A strange, almost sacred kind of stillness that wrapped around the place. No hurried footsteps, no careless noise—only the soft murmur of water weaving through the air. Fountains stood everywhere, their gentle rhythm blending with the whisper of wind through leaves, creating a calm so deep it felt deliberate.
She shouldn't have liked it this much.
But she did.
It soothed something inside her she hadn't realized was restless.
Even the shadows here felt… different.
