Julian watched Kraven from the corner of his eye.
The man had not moved for some time. He stood motionless, almost unnaturally still, as though carved from stone.
Julian had witnessed countless peculiar things throughout his existence. Yet there was something particularly fascinating about watching a man like Kraven unravel in such a quiet, undignified way.
Kraven was a man born into extraordinary wealth and prestige, raised among the highest circles of power. And yet here he was—reduced to little more than a creature of appetite, ruled by something as crude and simple as desire.
There was a quiet irony in that transformation.
Still, Julian could not pretend he was entirely different. In truth, he and Kraven were far more alike than either of them would have cared to admit. Luck had simply placed them on opposite sides of the same divide.
Had fortune turned its face away from him, Julian might very well have become a man much like Kraven himself.
