Catherine -
I discovered the library by accident, though in this castle I was beginning to suspect nothing happened entirely by chance. I'd been exploring the west wing—staying carefully within the boundaries that had been set for me while testing their exact parameters—when a door I hadn't noticed before caught my attention.
Unlike the heavy oak and iron fixtures that dominated most of the castle, this door was carved from what looked like a single piece of pale wood, its surface decorated with intricate patterns that seemed to shift when I wasn't looking directly at them. No lock, no forbidding symbols, just an invitation disguised as architecture.
Too easy, my suspicious mind warned. Nothing in this place is without purpose.
But curiosity had always been my weakness, and three days
