The floorboards creaked underneath Julian's feet, but he could barely hear them over his pounding heart as the sense of foreboding increased with each step upwards.
Better lighting awaited at the top of the staircase like a false promise. The secondborn prince wasn't sure if anything good lay in wait up there. Meanwhile, the windows on the bottom floor were all shuttered and covered, allowing in a small amount of light through the gaps in the wood boards nailed to the windows.
Once he finally reached the top floor, there was one bedroom at the end of a short hall with its door ajar, outside of which the little man watched Julian's slow approach. He reminded Julian of a warden, something about the way the man's beady eyes watched his person more closely than a hawk.
