No frame is immune to the damage, and the owner has made it more than clear that this is exactly how he wants them to be seen.

A bright red light seeps under a door down the hall, and I turn the door handle—pushing it open.

Inside the room is stuffed with beautiful rose blooms, similar to the ones Gabriel gave to me.

They part a pathway for me as I approach, sparkling and twisting with my every step.

Stunned, I pick up one, twirling its stem between my fingertips, bracing myself for a stab.

It only glows brighter, though.

I pick up another, carrying them both over to the balcony to watch them under the moonlight.

How is this even possible?

I gently tug at one of the bloom’s petals, but it doesn’t give way at all.

Instead, it hardens under my touch and shifts into stone.

The other rose follows suit.

“Fine…” I carry them both inside and return them to their places.

Moving further into the room, I push aside a toppled chair and notice more tattered family portraits.

As I’m pushing back a shred of canvas that reveals a piece of the young boy’s smile, Gabriel’s voice comes from the other side of the door.

Walking over, I gently push it open.

Red-faced with puffy eyes that reveal he hasn’t slept since he left me, he’s clutching an ornate mirror.

“Show me again.” He glares at it.

“Show you what?” A raspy voice in the glass answers.

“The most beautiful girl in all the kingdoms…”

The raspy voice laughs. “It’s the same as what I’ve shown you before. Nothing is different.”

“Fuck you.” He clenches his jaw and sets down the mirror.

Before I can blink, he picks up a lamp and slams it onto the ground—shattering it to pieces.

He knocks everything off his desk.

Enraged, he pulls portraits off the walls and slumps down to the floor, cursing and yelling at the top of his lungs.

I start to step inside to console him, but someone grabs my hand from behind and pulls me away.

Sola.

“You can’t fucking be here.” She hisses.

“There’s nothing—”

“You can’t be here.” Anger flashes in her eyes and her change in demeanor stuns me into silence. “You’ll kill us all.”

What? “I don’t understand how I could do that.”

“You don’t need to.” Tears fall down her face as she drags me farther away from Gabriel. “I should’ve known better than to trust you being alone.”

She snaps her fingers, and two guards appear ahead of us, ready to lead me away.

I wait in my room for Gabriel to knock on my door, but he never comes.

Instead, when I walk over to my balcony, I watch him and his troops leave.

They return at sunrise, but he never returns to me.