Ruling with a New Frame novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Edmund's Penance
I woke to the sound of iron on iron, below the floor.
It came again, and again, a slow, hard ring.
I put on Felix's coat and went down the back stairs in my socks.
The cellar light was on.
My father stood at the bottom with a crowbar in both hands and his sleeves rolled to the elbow.
He had been at it for a long time.
His shirt stuck to his back, and the knuckles of one hand were raw.
The door of the Quiet Room stood in front of him, black oak with three iron hinges.
Two hinges lay on the flagstones with their screws still in them.
Felix sat on the bottom step with a flashlight, his glasses on crooked, watching.
"He wouldn't let me help," Felix whispered. "He said it's his."
My father set the bar under the last hinge.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Ruling with a New Frame are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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