TALES TOLD IN THE DARK
Chapter 1
Shadows of Survival
Pearl’s eyes bore the plague’s cruel kiss, deep and solemn like craters in moonlit earth, where death had danced but spared her breath.
London lay in ruins, streets choked with bloated corpses, air thick with rot’s sweet-sick perfume. Widowed, orphaned, she stitched shrouds for the damned until fate’s thread pulled her to the Fine Lady’s manor.
The patroness, veiled in velvet black as midnight’s void, sought a seamstress swift and silent. “Mend my gowns, whisper no secrets,” she commanded, eyes glinting like raven’s beak.
Pearl nodded, needle piercing silk.
To be continued…