11"x 14" framed painting, acrylic on canvas - Vivienne of the Velvet Skull and Hexel
 
Long ago—before she wore a crown and ruled the Clockless Tower Kingdom—she was only a girl. A clever, pretty thing with daisies in her hair, who asked too many questions and read too many books. She lived by a river where the current braided itself around smooth stones.
 
One afternoon she followed a Sphynx cat into the woods—furless, affronted, ears like unfurled sails. He led her to the stone skeleton of a chapel that rose from the mountain like a broken fang. The windows were tall and arched. The saints inside had been blurred by time into pale ghosts.
 
Beneath the stained glass windows, she met Him.
 
His voice was low and golden—dusk spilling through cathedral arches—and his eyes held a quiet fire. He read her poems. He brought her roses and rubies. He made her laugh.
 
So she let him into her wondering heart, and soon their days gleamed with the soft opulence of a private dream: dinners under chandeliers in secret courtyards, champagne midnights, silk-lined hours. He bought her rare books and velvet gowns; she gave him all her love. The life was stitched in gold thread—beautiful, fragile, too perfect to last.
 
As you may have guessed—this is not a happy story.
 
Read the full story behind the painting