I walked through the dark hallway toward Vivienne's study, still replaying the strange conversation with Sabrina in my mind. The Valentine manor at night was a different creature entirely – the pristine white halls bathed in shadow, the distant tick of clocks marking seconds that felt like hours, the weight of old money watching from countless portrait frames.
What was I even doing here? My life used to be simple: wake up, commute, work, sleep, repeat. Now I had four identical girls playing mind games that would make chess grandmasters dizzy. And one of them had kissed me.
I'd been kissed before, obviously. I'm eighteen, not dead. But there's something uniquely troublesome about being kissed by a girl who could be one of four people.
My knuckles rapped against Vivienne's door before I could spiral further into that particular mental labyrinth.
"Enter," came her voice from within, sounding... different. Less commanding than usual.
