Victor regarded Emily with an utterly impassive expression, giving no outward reaction as she hovered there practically vibrating with emotional discomposure. Just when she felt her nerves reaching a fever pitch, certain he would rebuke her for such brazen disregard of aristocratic propriety, he finally responded.
"I see," was all he said, his tone perfectly modulated and unreadable. Yet Emily detected...something else simmering beneath that measured baritone. Something that resonated with the exact same harrowing dissonances that had so thoroughly transfixed her own being upon venturing amidst the Haven's sacred devotions.
Emily released a shuddering breath, her body trembling with a heady concoction of anticipation and dread. Before she could respond, Victor held up a hand, his expression hardening into something stern and forbidding.
