aranelb:

“…Except that the young man in the picture was posed next to a young woman who also looked alarmingly familiar. Luce held the book inches from her face and pored over the woman’s image. She wore a ruffled black silk ball gown that hugged her body to her waist before billowing out in wide black tiers. Black lace-up wristlets encased her hands, leaving her white fingers bare. Her small teeth showed between her lips, which were parted in an easy smile. She had clear skin a few tones lighter than the man’s. Deep-set eyes bordered by thick eyelashes. A black flood of hair that fell in thick waves to her waist. It took a moment for Luce to remember how to breathe, and even then, she still couldn’t tear her strained eyes away from the book.

The woman in the photograph?

It was her.”