Beneath the Black Thorns
When Elise Marchetti's car rattles through the iron gates of Ashworth Hall, she knows she should turn back. The sleet cuts sideways across the broken lane, the gate slams shut behind her with the finality of a coffin lid, and the old manor waits like a held breath. Inside the decaying walls, she finds more than she bargained for: the brooding Dorian Ashworth, whose grief has curdled into something dangerous; the watchful housekeeper, Mrs. Calloway, who guards secrets older than the stone; and Lady Seraphine, a woman who died years ago and yet still walks the east wing in white. As Elise settles into her role as companion to the household's fragile heir, she begins to unravel the tangled history that binds them all. The black thorns that climb the manor walls are not merely decorative, they are warnings. And somewhere in the shadows, the entity that wears Lady Seraphine's face is learning her name. With each passing night, Elise must decide how deep she is willing to descend beneath the thorns, and whether the heart that waits for her at the bottom is still capable of love, or only hunger.