Lena knelt beside him. "The Lust Grimm isn't about love. It's about the shape of a hole. You fell in love with the absence, not the woman."
Aldric was a skeleton draped in skin. His eyes were wet holes. He didn’t look at Lena; he looked through her, at the empty air where the woman used to be. lust grimm
Aldric looked at Lena’s statue. For the first time, his eyes focused. "What is she reaching for?" Lena knelt beside him
His mansion smelled of wax and rot. She found him in the ballroom, surrounded by dozens of statues of the same woman—a woman with almond eyes and a mocking smile. Each statue was more intimate than the last: a hand on a hip, a mouth half-open, a dress slipping from a shoulder. You fell in love with the absence, not the woman