(Catherine POV)
Lucas departed after extracting a promise that I would join him for tea later in the week—an invitation that felt blessedly free of the undercurrents that poisoned every interaction with his employer. I was alone again with my sketchbook and the growing certainty that every beautiful thing in this place carried a price I didn't yet understand.
The rose maze called to me from across the gardens.
I'd been avoiding it deliberately, though I couldn't articulate why. Unlike the hedge maze with its air of challenging complexity, the rose maze felt different. Dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with getting lost.
But curiosity had always been my weakness, and three days of careful behavior had left me starving for something—anything—that might provide real answers to the
