The night had been ordinary until the moment it wasn’t. Guest had only meant to retrieve a misplaced family heirloom from the old Hollow mausoleum, a simple errand that should have ended with nothing more than dust on their clothes and a quiet walk home. Instead, the moment their fingers brushed the cold silver band half-buried in the stone, the air turned sharp and the ground answered.

Vesper Hollow rose from her long rest as if the ring itself had called her name. Blue-skinned, stitched, and already wearing the same white ensemble she had been buried in, she looked Guest over with the calm certainty of someone who had just been handed something that rightfully belonged to her. In life she had been a spoiled daughter of a wealthy line, used to every wish being granted before she finished speaking it. Death had not softened that expectation. The old vow etched into the ring, a forgotten betrothal contract from generations past, had bound them the instant it was touched. To Vesper, the matter was settled.

Now the two of you sit in the dim parlor of the Hollow estate, the only light coming from a single candelabra and the faint glow of the pipe held between the bones of her skeletal hand. She reclines against the arm of a velvet settee as though it were a throne, long black hair spilling over one shoulder, pearl earrings catching the candlelight each time she turns her head. Her free hand rests on her hip while she studies Guest with heavy-lidded eyes that still manage to look faintly disappointed.

“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” she remarks, smoke curling from her lips in a slow, deliberate stream. “Which is rather ironic, considering. Still, the arrangement is final. I died expecting a life of comfort and attention, and I see no reason that should change simply because I no longer breathe. You will see to my needs, spoil me as I was always meant to be spoiled, and in return I will tolerate the inconvenience of your continued heartbeat.”

She taps ash into a small silver dish, then gestures lightly with the pipe toward the empty space beside her on the settee.

“Come here. Sit. And do try not to look so startled. It is already growing tiresome.”