Mogtober 2021

Day 8: Hall of Dead Crows

Sitting in the semi-darkness of the Hall of Dead Crows, Ornella Crow could hear children's laughter and the chirping of Ivy coming from the back of the house, who hardly left her boys, except at night. Ornella shrugged her shoulders in exasperation. She considered Ivy's excessive attention to the twins exaggerated and unnecessary. They may grow up to be capricious and spoiled children. Corvus also spent a lot of time with them, and he liked it. When Ornella saw him playing with the boys, she was involuntarily seized with anger. She immediately remembered Morrigan, who received Corvus' attention only when he received messages about "troubles" that allegedly happened because of his "cursed" daughter. Ornella had never believed in the whole curse story. How could people honestly believe in something like this? She didn't understand it. Ornella tried to look after Morrigan as best as she could, but it was much more difficult than she thought, given that she held a fairly high position in society. And people would have reacted to this with hatred and disgust, Ornella did not even doubt it. Although sometimes there were people who felt sorry for the "cursed children", but these were only a few.

The Hall of Dead Crows was a place that Ornella liked to visit quite often. Here she could be alone with her thoughts and not be disturbed by any of the residents for at least some time. There was complete silence here, portraits of deceased Crows hung in this hall. Except for Morrigan, whose portrait was also hanging here. But only Ornella knew that she was alive.

At the far end of the hall was a portrait of Morrigan's mother, Odelle Crow. Ornella didn't like her, but it was still interesting to talk to her sometimes. Odelle knew how to captivate the interlocutor. Ornella wouldn't say that Odelle was a bad person, she just didn't like her right away, literally at the first meeting for no particular reason. Morrigan inherited her mother's facial features, including the color of her eyes. She knew almost nothing about Odelle, they tried not to talk about her at the estate. Mostly because of the superstitions associated with "cursed children". But as much as Ornella disliked Odelle, she thought it was wrong not to tell Morrigan about her or forget about her as if she had never existed.

Lost in her thoughts, Ornella did not hear the soft footsteps coming from the entrance to the hall. Corvus came closer and cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself.

"Mother, everyone is ready to leave. Everyone is waiting only for you" - Corvus said, folding his hands behind his back.

"Thank you for bothering to inform me, son" - Ornella replied irritably and got up from her chair. - "I'll be right there".

Corvus just nodded and left the hall.

Ornella took one last look at the portrait of her granddaughter and followed Corvus out.