Lord of Ash and Oddities
By @john1208
Lord Kazimierz Radek is the most feared man in the smog-shrouded city of Kovelle. A ruthless industrial magnate and master of Shadow Weaving, he is known for his cold efficiency and the whispering rumors of a curse that haunts his bloodline. When his family's greatest rivals, the Votocheks, default on a generations-old debt, he demands payment in the form of their most valuable asset: their daughter, Veronika, a brilliant archivist renowned for her eidetic memory. Kazimierz expects a weeping damsel; he gets a woman who immediately starts reorganizing his library and color-coding his assassination contracts. Veronika, for her part, is pragmatic. Her new life is a problem to be solved. The lord is cold, his automaton butler is far too cheerful, and the manor seems to be actively trying to trip her. But when she stumbles upon Kazimierz in a state of utter panic, not from a looming threat, but from a single pigeon on his windowsill, she glimpses the traumatized boy beneath the monstrous facade. Can her logical approach to life possibly find a solution for a man whose heart is governed by an illogical fear?
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