Four full days had passed without either Ethan or Louisa stepping a single foot outside the master suite.
From the adjoining room, Mary had watched a continuous line of nervous inn employees carry massive silver trays of premium meat, vintage plum wine, and fresh bathing water into the quarters, but of her daughter, there was absolutely no sign. The only evidence of her ongoing existence was the faint, intermittent sound of muffled, high-pitched gasps that echoed through the heavy wooden door at all hours of the day and night.
On the morning of the fifth day, the heavy iron-reinforced door finally clicked open.
