The Valemont manor was rarely loud in the mornings. Its halls usually filled with soft conversation, the clink of porcelain, and the faint scent of lavender tea.
But that morning, as Seraphina descended the staircase, the calm was shattered by her father's raised voice.
"…you dare question me again, Helena? After all I've done for this family?"
The sound froze her mid-step. Her father never shouted. Never.
Her mother's trembling reply came next, muffled but desperate. "Please, Edmund, I didn't mean—"
"Enough!"
The word cracked through the air like thunder.
Heart pounding, Seraphina hurried toward the drawing room. When she stepped into the doorway, the sight before her made her chest tighten.
Lord Valemont stood rigid near the hearth, his fists clenched. Her mother sat nearby, shoulders trembling, a handkerchief pressed to her lips.
And near the window — perfectly still, composed as a painted portrait — sat Selene.
Or rather, the sister Seraphina believed to be Selene.
The morning light caught her face just so, turning her skin almost porcelain-pale. Her eyes — usually bright with emotion — looked distant, focused on something far away.
"Father?" Seraphina said softly, uncertain. "What's wrong?"
Lord Valemont turned sharply, the anger in his face faltering when he saw her. "It's nothing, Seraphina. Go back upstairs."
Her mother's eyes, wet and pleading, lifted briefly. "Your father and I are just having a discussion."
Seraphina shook her head. "A discussion? You're shouting. What could possibly—"
"Enough, both of you." The words came not from her father this time, but from Selene.
The calmness in her tone was startling. Her voice held a strange composure, like an adult scolding children. "You'll only make matters worse."
Seraphina blinked, caught off guard. That wasn't how her sister usually spoke — not to their parents, not with that commanding ease.
Her father exhaled sharply and turned away. "Your sister is right," he muttered. "This house has been filled with too much sentiment lately. We will not discuss this further."
He left the room abruptly, the heavy door swinging shut behind him.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Lady Valemont dabbed her eyes, murmuring, "I don't understand. He's never spoken to me like that before…"
Selene — still seated by the window — spoke without turning her head. "Perhaps he's finally seeing things clearly."
Seraphina frowned. "Selene! That's cruel."
Her sister's lips curved faintly. "Is it cruel to speak the truth?"
The quiet chill in her words made Seraphina's skin prickle.
"Father loves Mother," she said firmly. "You know he'd never mean to hurt her."
At last, Selene looked up. Her gaze met Seraphina's — steady, unblinking.
"Love makes men foolish. And foolish men make dangerous choices."
Seraphina didn't understand what that meant, but the way Selene said it — cold, measured, almost detached — left her uneasy.
Before she could answer, Selene rose from her chair with graceful ease. "Excuse me," she said simply, brushing invisible dust from her sleeve. "I have letters to write."
She left the room quietly, her soft footsteps echoing through the hall.
Seraphina watched her go, feeling something hollow open in her chest. Her sister's movements were the same. Her voice, her smile — everything seemed in place.
And yet… none of it felt right.
Lady Valemont's quiet sobs pulled her back. Seraphina knelt beside her mother and took her hand. "He'll calm down," she whispered. "He must be under stress."
Her mother nodded weakly, but her eyes darted toward the hall — where Selene had disappeared — as though afraid.
"She's changed, hasn't she?" she whispered, almost too soft to hear.
Seraphina squeezed her hand gently. "She's just tired, that's all."
But even as she said it, she wasn't sure she believed it.
That afternoon, the house grew heavy with silence again.
Servants moved about on quiet feet, afraid of drawing Lord Valemont's ire. The air felt different — charged, uneasy — as though something unseen had seeped into the manor's walls.
Seraphina had tried to distract herself in the library, but she couldn't focus. Her mind kept circling back to what had happened earlier — her father's anger, her mother's tears… and Selene's unsettling calm.
When she finally left the library, she saw her sister descending the grand staircase.
"Selene?" she called.
Selene paused halfway down, her hand gliding along the railing. "Yes?"
"Where are you going? It's nearly dusk."
Selene smiled faintly — but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "For a walk."
"A walk?" Seraphina frowned. "Alone? At this hour?"
"Is that forbidden now?" Her tone carried a sharp edge. "I need air. The house feels… suffocating."
Before Seraphina could argue, Selene swept past her, her gown whispering against the polished floor. The doors opened, letting in a burst of cool evening wind. For a moment, her figure was framed by the dying light — then she was gone.
Seraphina stood there, unsettled. Selene never went anywhere without her — especially not after dark. Since childhood, they had done everything together, bound not just by blood but by an almost unspoken rhythm. But lately, that rhythm had faltered.
She waited. Half an hour passed. Then an hour.
The manor grew dim. Lamps flickered to life one by one. Still, no sign of her sister.
When Seraphina finally heard the door open, she rushed to the entryway.
Selene stepped in quietly, her face half-lit by candlelight. Her cloak was damp at the hem, and a faint smell of earth clung to her.
"Where were you?" Seraphina demanded. "You've been gone for so long—"
Selene brushed past her. "I told you. Walking."
"In the woods?"
"Perhaps."
"You hate the woods at night," Seraphina whispered.
That made Selene pause. Slowly, she turned back, her gaze sharp, unreadable. "Do I?"
The question lingered in the air — not teasing, but almost testing.
Seraphina opened her mouth, then shut it again. Something in her sister's eyes made her feel small — like she was being studied, not spoken to.
Without another word, Selene went upstairs.
Seraphina remained in the hall long after she'd gone, staring at the door her sister had disappeared through. A strange chill crept up her spine.
Whatever was happening to Selene, it was no longer something she could explain away.