her castle is the skeleton of a great beast. the lion of cainhurst roared proudly, its mane well-preened, its claws & fangs sharp. once, its pride could have eclipsed all of yharnam’s, with its fell academies & fouler churches. even glory turns to dust, it seems. & the halls are so quiet, so empty.
graz’zt is perhaps the only breed of guest suitable to the moonlit husk of her kingdom. his is the only voice that does not disturb the dead, cracks the frost that dulls the sky through the windows. in this bloated corpse, floating belly-up on frigid cocytus, he is as a vulture, plunged neck-deep into a ghost, its heart the only warm thing in this world. like the rot-eater, he thinks little of this skeleton’s past, & perhaps not much more of what it can provide for him — of what she can provide for him.
timeless idol, frozen beyond the reach of time, she is ever regal, poised above her very children’s grave. annalise’s dark chuckle echoes beneath her wretched mask.
‘ we were not always vileblood. ’
she traces a line along her forearm with one pail nail. the skin parts easily. blood like droplets of fire fall to the bloodsoaked carpet, fizzling out in the cold.
‘ for aught to be corrupt, first it must be placed opposite something pure. it was the priests of the healing church who decreed what was pure, and so we were left with what is rotten. a scholar’s poisoned gift made it so. we were all made to think he betrayed his kind for our favor. little did we know he merely invited their wrath. but you do not care for such things, ’ she says, smile fading from her unaging features. her memories of that time, like her courtroom, are wreathed in rime, and no candle’s flame can reach and melt them.
‘ you wish to know of that time, before we were deemed unclean. it was so long ago, before he came. the halls were lit then, shining like endless red mirrors. the standards flew in the winter wind. there was music, and laughter. our mother ruled justly. we must have been but a girl. ’