CHAPTER 86

CHLORENDIA DOWNHILL

Dinner in our house was always an event. Not the kind with warmth or conversation, but the kind where silence stretched tight, every clink of silverware amplified, and the air so thick with tension you could choke on it. Tonight was no different.

I sat at the long dining table, staring down at my plate. The food looked immaculate, as always. The roast meat glistened under the chandelier's light, the vegetables arranged with an artist's precision, and the wine in my goblet was the deepest shade of red. But I could barely taste any of it.

My father sat at the head of the table, as he always did, his posture as perfect as the spine of a sword. His cane rested against the edge of his chair, a silent reminder of the man he used to be and the limitations he refused to acknowledge.