NARRATOR

"Francis!" the housekeeper exclaimed, cutting off her conversation with the gardener mid-sentence.

The young man dismounted in a single leap, his face drawn and his hair disheveled from the wind.

"Come with me," he said, almost in a whisper, gripping her arm and dragging her inside the castle.

Once inside her first-floor chamber, she slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Speak, Francis. What happened?"

Her son began pacing in circles, running his hand through his hair over and over, hi