The rain fell in relentless sheets that evening, drenching the earth and turning the gravel road to mud. She clutched her cloak tightly around her body as she stepped through the gates of Blackwood Manor, heart pounding beneath layers of wool.
She had never seen a house so large. Towering stone walls stretched toward the stormy sky, windows flickering with faint candlelight. The kind of house that didn’t belong to kind men. The villagers whispered about the man who owned it. A Duke with a reputation. A man who could ruin a woman without ever raising his voice.
She reached the front doors shivering, her hair plastered to her face, her dress soaked through. Before she could knock, the heavy doors creaked open on their own.
The butler appeared, stiff and silent, and ushered her into the gr
