Chapter 8 - The Mask Comes Off
Eleanor slowly raised her hands to her head.
She unclasped the delicate silver latch of her mask and pulled it away, revealing her face in the full light of the chandelier.
The room plunged into an absolute, horrific silence.
Daniel staggered backward, his knees knocking against his desk, knocking over an inkwell that spilled dark liquid across his papers. His face drained of all color, his eyes wide with a terror so deep he couldn't speak.
"E... Eleanor?" Lady Genevieve shrieked, clutching her chest, staggering back until she hit the wall. "No... no! You're dead! You fell into the Devil's Cauldron!"
"I did fall," Eleanor stepped forward, her voice ringing with pure, unyielding authority. "I fell into the ice, into the rocks, into the abyss where you threw me. But the river refused to take me, Daniel. It kept me alive so I could witness your ruin."
"It's a demon! A ghost!" Genevieve screamed, her eyes rolling back in her head as she collapsed onto the velvet carpet in a dead faint.
Daniel fell to his knees, his hands trembling as he looked up at his wife. "Eleanor... please... it was my mother! She forced me! She gave me the knife! I was afraid!"
"You cut the rope, Daniel," Eleanor said, her eyes turning into shards of blue ice. "You looked into my eyes, you saw your unborn child in my womb, and you chose to cut the rope."
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She pulled young Julian forward, placing her hands firmly on the boy’s shoulders. Julian stood tall, staring down at the broken man on the floor with cold, fearless eyes.
"Meet your son, Daniel," Eleanor hissed. "Julian Sterling. The true master of this house. And today, he evicts you."
