Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

Chapter 502

By now, the house was nothing but a hollowed-out skeleton, charred and broken.

After the firefighters finished, the garden was a muddy swamp, waterlogged and ruined.

Sooty puddles oozed across the scorched earth-everything, in that instant, was lost.

Orson spoke carefully: "Ms. Lloyd set up a candle timer in the kitchen. By the time anyone noticed, it was already too late."

Rupert stood stone-faced in front of what was left of the house, letting the bitter wind tangle his hair and sting his eyes.

Through the thick haze of smoke, he could almost make out two shadows under the blackened beams, one tall, one small.

He reached out, desperate to grab them, but Sylvia's voice echoed in his mind.

"Rupert, I hate you."

"The day I moved in, I set this place to burn."

And Sylvia had done it.

She burned away every last thing in that house.

Even those fleeting days of happiness.

Suddenly, Rupert thought of something. Without a second's hesitation, he turned and dashed through the mud-churned garden, heading for the veggie patch.

The soil, pounded by fire hoses, had been stripped bare, exposing the seeds they'd planted just days before.

Rupert crouched down, scooping up a handful of earth, searching for any sign of life.

He crushed a seed between his fingers-it was rotten through.

white as he clenched his fists. "All spoiled,"

Spring would never come.

wouldn't even

him, enough to

now she'd

went ghostly pale, a bright line of blood blooming at his lips as he suddenly

at his side had soaked through his bandages, staining his shirt with a fresh wave

"Mr. Rupert!"

...

the night sky, painting the horizon in

The only light came from the window, illuminating

tight around his waist, tall and

smoke curling around his pale face. His eyes reflected nothing but

crushed it into

even notice, just

moment, the

away the thick cloud of smoke. He marched over and snatched the

smoking? Do you even care about

cigarette. He didn't light it—just rolled it

Orson knocked and

specialists from Boston are ready.

"Okay."

the lighter in his hand, about to flick

the lighter away. "What the

fingers, replied coldly, "She'll remember

tightened around the medical

How she ended up trying to kill herself? Are you really that blind? Or do you

smart, Rupert. Haven't you seen how