Gina Marie woke to the sunlight coming across her face in beams of warmth. Her mouth felt dry like She'd chewed on cotton, and her muscles ached as if She'd run up and down the mountain all night long. She blinked, remembering she was in Brisbane Castle - it had been her first night in Bane's home.

Above her was a beautiful ivory colored canopy, embroidered with golden stars, all in the correct constellations. She followed the line of Orion's belt, the Leopard of Saint Anita and the jewel of Bidwell, recalling vaguely the stories her father used to tell her and Ben about each constellation. He had always been the one to tell them a story before bed.

Turning ever so carefully, Gina Marie found Bane curled beside her, his body acting like a shield against the chill in the room, though she realized he was not under any covers at all. He was breathing steady and slow and she wondered just how long it had been since he'd slept. One of his arms lay heavy across her stomach, but she didn't move away from him. In fact, lying there, watching him sleep, she wished for just a moment that she could stay. Maybe she could make him love her instead of Georgina Marie - maybe with a little time she could prove her usefulness here. Prove her affection for him had been real all along in those letters.

Without thinking she lifted one hand and traced the scars that were harder to see at all in the bright light of day.

She'd dreamed of Ben last night... she Couldn't remember going to bed at all... but she remembered flashes of terrible things he'd done. Sighing, she dropped her hand away from Bane's face. What would her new husband say if he knew about her twin's condition? Would he cast her off? Lock her in the attic as Aunt and Uncle had? Would he look at her sideways, waiting for her own madness to break through as well? was not that what Gina Marie herself was doing sometimes? Just waiting to succumb to the same fate of her brother... no matter how normal she might feel - hadn't Ben's mind just snapped in a day? In just one day her beloved brother had disappeared completely, leaving behind stark terror and wildness that was ever on the hunt for a way to resurrect their parents. And in her heart of hearts was not that what Gina Marie had always wanted too? Just to have her family back? What if she was just as close to the brink as Ben had been, without evening knowing it?

Bane stirred beside her, breaking whatever spinning out of her thoughts was happening first thing in the morning. Gina Marie realized in that moment she needed the latrine, and wondered if Brisbane Castle had known such an update in the last fifty years. Careful of her husband and her splintered leg, Gina Marie extricated herself carefully from underneath Bane's arm to set both feet on the ground.

The coldness of the stone floor leaked through the fur skin rug, clutching at her stockinged toes and making her move all the faster. Hobbling along and using different pieces of furniture to balance herself, Gina Marie made it to the bedroom door without making much noise. It was bolted from the inside - odd - as if Bane had locked his family out. It occurred to her then that Bane had spent the night in a bed with her again - but she Couldn't remember him coming in to the room, or why he would've wanted to share a bed for a second night. Chewing at her lip, Gina Marie had the fleeting thought that perhaps he did want to keep her after all - as if she were some shell he'd found on a beach holiday. Shaking her head, Gina Marie undid the bolt and opened the bed room door.

In an instant she froze, feeling a strangled squeezing in her chest as her scream fought to come out but Couldn't. Every thought left her head, and she began to tremble, leaning into the doorframe for support.

Black rose petals, a hundred of them at least, lay strewn at the doorstep of her bedchamber.

The Black Rose of Death.