Adam was exhausted after a long day of entertaining the woman who wanted to marry him.

She arrived fifteen minutes after nine to his family's estate in the city, clambering out of a carriage she had painted black in hopes to inspire some sort of respect from the Heslers. She had her blond hair done up in a bun and tucked partially under a tiny black hat, a dark parasol over her shoulder and her cheeks rouged beyond reason to bring some semblance of color back into her palette. Her tight waistcoat was a sort of orangey-black, but her skirt was more blueish, and her boots looked tinted brown as she swept up the cobblestones to the front door. She had a little black bag settled into her elbow and she righted her outfit before she knocked.

Her mother had given her a series of lectures about the importance of this first meeting in their courtship, how winning the heart of the youngest Hesler could set her up for a lifetime of fortune and pleasure if she could play her cards right. He was more elusive than his older sister, who had begun making public appearances when she'd turned sixteen, but she'd been assured he was handsome and commanding of respect - just like his father, was the word around town. Of course, there had been plenty of rumors saying otherwise, but that was expected from nobles who made their trade in necromancy.

As she raised a black gloved hand to knock, the doors opened on their own to reveal a slender man in a prim suit waiting for her.

"Miss Anna Wellnick? It's my pleasure to accompany you today." This was not Adam Hesler but one of the family's servants, and she stood up taller to disguise her confusion. She'd never actually attempted to court anyone before. She'd sort of assumed she be met with flowers and an arm from the young heir, maybe be offered a tour of the estate garden?

She followed her guide through the elaborate halls of the home, hiding her awe behind pursed lips and a raised chin. Black wrought iron supports curled up the vaulted ceiling, forming beautifully curved arches and moldings. The polished, black, mirror-like floor clicked under her heels, and if she focused too closely on her reflection, she thought she might fall through the floor and into the void of space. They passed many pieces of art hung between doorways, but she'd never had the interest to learn about great painters, and they went unnoticed as Anna followed the butler into the receiving room.

As she entered, three heads turned to greet her. Farthest away, sat on a couch and fanning herself with an intricate lace fan was Madame Hesler, her pale face beautiful and slender. The folds of her rich-black dress reminded Anna of ocean waves - smooth and cresting beautifully like the moon had personally laid it around her. Next was another woman, younger and standing by a piano as she motioned to a servant and muttered something. Her face lit up as she noticed Anna enter, and she began walking closer, her skirt swishing around her shins and her coat buttoned at her waist. She had white pearl clips sown into her hair, which was half up and half resting over her narrow shoulders. This was Violet Hesler, the oldest sibling and heir to the family estate, once the family needed her. As she swept forward, Anna studied the final person.

Adam stood perfectly upright, at least a foot taller than his sister who was striding towards the front of the room quickly. His attire was equally as black and uniform as his family members', intricate embroidery sown into his jacket and curling down his shirt. Anna noted the presence of stark white gloves on his hands. He had broad shoulders and a cut jaw, and she was almost startled by how handsome he was.

Rumors had it he was the most handsome bachelor in town, or possibly terribly hideous, hence his family's suspicious sheltering of him from the public. Anna had rejected that possibility - they wouldn't be trying to marry him off if he was being hidden. But as she took in his face, she fought off a moment of shock as the shadows danced over his skin. He had dark, nearly black eyes under a heavy brow which cast them in shade as he turned. His cheeks seemed to shallow for a second, and his dark hair which was pushed back from his forehead melded with the background until she caught a glimpse of a skeleton's head staring at her. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the image vanished, and Adam let a pleasant smile spread over his face.

Adam caught the second of terror in her eyes and ignored it, falling in position behind his sister as she greeted their guest.

"Miss Wellnick! It's a pleasure to meet you," Violet said, and she did a little curtsy with her skirt. Anna's eyes flicked away from him, and he felt his tension ease. Anna returned the curtsy, clumsily grabbing at her skirt through her thick gloves - winter gloves, he realized. Her whole outfit was a far cry from inspiring, but Adam had begun to expect one of two things in the people who wanted to court him: either a display of mismatched blacks and a poor appropriation of what people assumed his family was like, or a bold denial of the aesthetic which teetered on the edge of being offensive. Anna had obviously gone with the former, though her attempt was laughably bad, he thought, as he took in her rouge and clashing blacks.

"Miss Wellnick," Adam greeted, stepping up besides his older sister and trying for his best, kind smile. She took him in wearily, but as he raised a hand, she didn't hesitate to grab it. He raised her knuckles to his lips and kissed them sweetly, hoping to erase whatever she'd seen on his face earlier. He was familiar with this dance. "Shall we introduce you to my mother?"

"We shall," Violet said for his date, and they swept her deeper into the room to begin their meeting.

It went about as well as the other courtship meetings had, which is to say clumsily as Anna struggled to correct her idea of the family's attitude. She tried for high-and-mighty to begin with, but then she came off as snobbish. Then she was more aloof, and she went a few minutes without speaking before that obviously bored her. Then she was loud and boisterous - Adam had seen so many faces of hers that he couldn't have picked out which one was closest to true. After tea with his mother and sister, he took her for a tour of the garden - at least she seemed to gain some confidence there - and then to his father's office where she fumbled through a conversation with Mister Hesler.

Adam had been trained in accounting and legal-matters and the ins-and-outs of nobility, so her lack of knowledge wasn't a deal-breaker as much as it was amusing to watch her lie about. Adam wasn't going to inherit much in the way of the family business regardless, but he'd learned early on that he wanted someone who could at least match him for wits. It made for a better conversation partner, or at least that's what he was telling himself.

Then they went to dinner, and Adam steeled himself for her reaction as he sat across from her at their banquet table. The lighting in this room was always low and romantic, despite the whole family attending, and it had been the end to most of the courtship attempts, at least from the woman's perspective.

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As he sat down across from Anna, he struggled with the urge to stay perfectly still and face the light from the chandelier. He never relished the looks of horror after he turned his face and let the shadows carve away his features, but it was as important to him as the test with his father. He couldn't live with someone who was terrified of him.

Inevitably, he turned away to respond to a question from his sister at his side, and when he turned back, he fought to bring up that easy smile from the parlor. The color had drained from Anna's face, and she stared at him with big, white eyes. She left shortly after dinner and fled with her tail between her legs.

Adam was standing in the parlor, unsure if he was angry or exhausted by her response after seeing it happen so often. He let his shoulders droop as his sister stepped up to his side, staring after where Anna had gone a few minutes earlier.

"She was a character," Violet said, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Quite. You should've seen her talk to Father, he was smiling the whole time."

"Poor girl. I hope she gets thinner gloves."

"I'm going out," Adam said before his sister turned to leave, and she nodded curtly. She would let the rest of the family know, but as far as he was concerned, she was as much head of the house as his father was.

"The boutique on the corner?" Now Adam nodded, and he stopped by his room to switch his nice coat for a less conspicuous one. He considered changing out of his white gloves, but his nerves were already fried from dinner, so he let them stay. It was close enough to his skin tone, and he wasn't going far from home, the risk of getting flagged for a rich man on the street wasn't much of a danger.

The boutique on the corner had been owned by his family for sixty years, since Adam's dad had convinced his grandfather to buy it to keep their hospital stocked. Back then, the family's reputation had been even more tarnished by ghost stories, and investing in public health would prove to be Mister Hesler's legacy as he became the patriarch.

Since Violet's role was to assume his position at the head, Adam had gotten to choose interests for himself, and he'd begun apprenticing with their personal nurse since he could read, learning to combine ingredients and chemicals for all sorts of effects. Shopping for flowers and dusts was Adam's biggest responsibility, and he relished every mundane aspect about it.

The man behind the counter nodded greeting to Adam as he entered, being familiar with his face. He set to inspecting the stock, seeing the list he'd memorized in his head as he wandered towards jars of dried plants and flowers. Each was carefully inspected so he only chose the most potent, criticizing cuts and leaves and vein patterns. There was a small collection of animal products - mostly small creatures like frogs and butterflies - but Adam passed by them. He felt enough like a monster tonight, he didn't need to be caught inspecting dead animals.

Adam passed by a small pot of candies as he shopped, and he eyed it hungrily. They weren't ordinary - how could anything be ordinary in a shop this charged with alchemical power? - and he'd indulged in these before. They were free and marketed with a sign that read "Fast acting pain relief!" He was beset with a headache.

He reached for one and then jumped when a voice suddenly rang out.

"Do those things actually work?" Adam turned to find a boy standing behind him, leaning heavily on a cane and looking up at him with a crooked grin.

He looked about the same age, 19, but he was much shorter and thin, Possibly from not eating, Adam thought as he took in the dirt caked into the weave of his clothes. His cane was hardly more than a stick he'd carved to fit his gait, but it was the least grabbing part of his appearance as Adam's eye's followed veiny white scars that crawled up his right arm. They disappeared under his dirty gray-blue cloak and reappeared at his collar to spread over just half of his face, like someone had turned him sideways and dipped him in it. The scars disappeared into his thick, short brown hair, partially held back with a hair band. He had one gray eye that didn't open as wide as his other one, which shined like a crystal blue sea.

Adam had seen worse afflictions, of course, but he still caught himself inspecting the young man carefully. He forgot to answer until the boy raised a brow, flashing a toothy grin. Adam shook his head.

"Hardly, but it can take the edge off. If you're looking for actual relief, the hospital is nearby." Adam offered the kid his candy and he plucked it out of his hand and into his mouth. The hospital was owned by the Hesler family since their unique field of study lent itself to healing and care for the dying. Necromancy wasn't technically banned by the city, provided they kept bodies in the ground after internment, but his family still preferred to market their skills as "necromancy-based healing and intervention" to assuage public fears. Adam being seen taking free healing candies when they ran the most lucrative business of necro-apothecaries in this corner of the nation was a bad look.

"I don't have the money to go to the hospital, but I appreciate the advice. Hey, do you know how to pick good wishing stones? I'm having trouble with them," the kid rambled, limping past Adam as his cane clicked on the tile floor. Adam followed him, partially out of obligation.

"I do. You don't need money for the hospital," he corrected, falling in behind him.

"Are you familiar with that place? You definitely need money for the hospital."

"I'm quite familiar, it's my hospital." The kid leaned over a table with round gray stones spread over a blue tablecloth, inspecting the sigils carved into the tops of them. He laughed as Adam finished speaking, turning to glance at him quickly.

"Then you should know I'll need money for whatever they do to me that puts me in the ground. I don't have money for internment." Adam bit back an indignant response, feeling heat rise to his face. It was true, his family had no control over what happened post-mortem; private companies came in and buried the bodies of those who had money left to buy the service. Otherwise, they were carted outside of town and thrown in unmarked graves. "You said you know stones, help me."

Adam leaned over and studied for a second, motioning to the best stone he could find. The pickings weren't great, and he made a mental note to ask for a better supply from the shop owner.

"Fancy gloves," the kid noted absently, picking up the stone he'd pointed to. Adam pulled his hands back quickly, suddenly wishing he'd taken them off. The kid looked up at him with a sly grin. "It's alright, you reek of money anyway. My name's Brady."

"Adam. Hesler."

"Am I supposed to know who you are?" Adam thought for a second, taking in Brady's dirty clothes and his make-shift cane.

"No, I guess not."

"Great. Buy this for me, someone stole all my shit yesterday," Brady said, and he put the stone into Adam's hand.

In the end, Adam agreed to buy Brady's supplies because it barely cost him 10 gold, which was meager compared to Adam's allowance. Again, denying him so little in this apothecary, which his family owned, was a bad look. They exited the store together, at which point Adam handed Brady his items.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that there's a millionaire buying beggars their groceries," he joked, adjusting his weight as they stalled out front of the shop. Adam felt another hint of embarrassment as he considered where the road was going to take each of them tonight - Adam to his family's estate, probably a hot bath and some dessert. And Brady? To the street somewhere, or a dingy boarding house with bed bugs? Adam's mouth was moving before he could stop himself.

"If you come by the hospital tomorrow, I'd like to get you a proper cane." Brady inspected him curiously, eyebrows raised, although his right one couldn't move quite as much as the left.

"Why, so you can feel bad for me?" Adam flushed.

"No, because that's my obligation to the city. You're going to hurt yourself more with that stick than without it." Brady grinned.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed, but I might have to take you up on that offer. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Adam Hesler."