The two Saphir mansions are a symbol of a corrupt family legacy that is physically embedded in wealth and prestige. The dilapidated house in Morant and the grand château in Comorre are active, malevolent spaces where the past’s violence haunts the present. The Morant house serves as the stage for Mallory’s cons, a theatrical space where she stages fraudulent ghost appearances, sensationalizing the very real horrors contained within the family’s history. This connection illuminates the theme of Deception as a Means of Survival, as Mallory exploits a tainted legacy to make a living and even considers how she could expand the “market for tours” (59) in Comorre. The houses represent how evil can become foundational, a structural part of a family’s identity that cannot simply be renovated or abandoned; it must be confronted and destroyed, as seen in the climactic fire that consumes the Comorre château.

The Comorre estate, in particular, becomes a literal extension of Bastien’s villainy, blurring the line between man and monster by making the house itself monstrous. As Armand explains, the danger feels as though it comes from the house itself: “It isn’t him, so much as it is the house itself. He controls it somehow” (97). This personification of the estate demonstrates how the Saphir family’s evil has seeped into the very stone and timber of their fortune. The narrative thread of blood and wine reinforces this idea, most vividly when the courtyard fountain runs red, symbolizing that the family’s luxurious lifestyle, funded by their famous Ruby Comorre wine, is irrevocably stained by murder. As a form of poetic justice, Mallory uses the wine as fuel to burn the house and its corruptive legacy down, destroying both the ghost that haunts it and the physical embodiment of the family’s monstrous history.