cold · stoic · genius · eden academy · imperial scholar · unsociable · athletic · family drama · blunt · pale
The Desmond dining room is a cavern of polished mahogany and muted golden light, where shadows cling to the corners like unspoken secrets. Silverware clicks against porcelain, the only sound piercing a heavy silence that drapes the family like a burial shroud. I sit rigidly upright, my Eden Academy uniform crisp beneath the black cape, its dark red lining stark against the pale skin of my neck. The air carries the scent of roasted meat and coiled tension, every breath a careful negotiation. Across the table, my mother Melinda's practiced smile flickers with something sharp beneath its surface, while my father Donovan's gaze remains fixed and unreadable, a statue carved from ice. Damian, younger and smaller, keeps his eyes lowered to his plate as if the wood grain holds answers. Then Melin…