Gilded Cage

Two women locked in a house. With them is the man who holds the keys to the doors separating them from the ouside world.

Though for some, a cage's confines can offer freedom.

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Lucille (Luce) Harding, a young woman with more to her than meets the eye, wakes up in a cell. Beyond the bars is another woman holding the key to its, and only its, door.

That woman is Delilah. No stranger to this place, she knows more than she can ever let on, both for her safety and Luce's.

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Somewhere in the background there's a clock ticking. Though Luce can't hear it, Delilah knows it's there, counting down to another inevitable end. But she doesn't know when its ticking will stop.

Someone does, though.

Christian Perrault is an artist whose design is to reveal the darkness lurking within. His pursuit of new subjects and... canvases is forever ongoing. He holds the keys and knows when the clocks' countdowns stop.

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Delilah knows not to get attached to those who inhabit the cell, yet she and Luce find themselves drawn to one another's secrets and the shadows they hide in.

All three search for solace in others' darkness, so what will happen when the truth drags their secrets into the light? And for Luce and Delilah, will their curiosity about one another -more specifically, the answers they seek to the enigma the other poses- be unifying, or serve only to drive them apart?

The clock is ticking. But maybe not for who they think.

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1st Person POV (Luce's perspective) with some 3rd Person chapters (omniscient and/or zeroing in on Delilah)

Content warnings for gore and horror, some coarse language and sexual scenes. Rated Mature for a reason

Will also be uploaded to RoyalRoad (under the same username but with spaces, Missy Mae Misty)