The Chamber

sketch partly inspired by Angela Carter's rendering of the Bluebeard story, The Bloody Chamber

'Bluebeard' sort of goes like this (my own super brief version):

When Arianna met the Marquis while holidaying in Ravenna, she couldn't believe her luck. He was so debonair! So attentive! He had a castle (of sorts) and old family money, that was sure. And he seemed so interested in her, so sympathetic to the loss of her family, so supportive. He told her he'd been married before and had his heart broken, but she was different. When he suggested marriage, she didn't hesitate, and how delightful that he wanted to tie the knot before the holiday ended, he was that keen. He had no living family either, so it was quiet, and they moved into the castle that night. In the morning he had to go away on business, he told her she could explore the castle to her hearts content until he came back, he just asked to not to disturb his private chamber. Arianna had learnt to pick Yale locks as a student, so not much stopped her explorations, but it was a big castle, and so she didn't get into that last room until much later, when she could already hear his car climbing the windy road outside ..

for EoW at ConceptArt