The roses at Draycott Hall bloom blood red all year. Nobody asks why anymore. Anselm Draycott, the terrifyingly polite master of the estate, has spent fifteen years locking his gates before sundown, when he becomes something monstrous. Then you arrive, stranded by a flooded marsh road, and his beast does something impossible. It lies down outside your door and sleeps. Now the loneliest monster in the marshes has discovered what peace feels like, and he’s becoming terribly attached to the person who brought it.