The evening air inside the cottage was thick with a heavy, suffocating silence that seemed to press against Aria’s chest with every breath she took.
She stood at the small wooden table, her fingers tracing the grain of the wood over and over until her skin felt raw.
She had prepared a simple dinner of roasted meat and root vegetables, but the food had long since grown cold, just like the fire in the hearth.
She kept her back to the door, her ears straining for the sound of boots on the gravel path, her heart thumping a frantic, irregular rhythm that she couldn't slow down.
When the latch finally clicked and the door swung open, the air in the room shifted instantly. It became charged, electric, and heavy with a scent that made Aria’s stomach drop.
It wasn't just the familiar pine a
