Morning came softly to Raven’s Hollow.
Outside, snow continued to fall in slow, silent sheets, covering the ground until the whole world looked untouched. The trees bowed beneath the weight of it. The wind pressed gently against the cabin walls, cold and restless, but inside, the fire burned low and warm.
Kaelen had left not long after breakfast.
He had muttered something about checking the traps before the snow swallowed the paths completely, though the quick glance he gave Vaelith before stepping outside said he knew more than he let on.
Then the door had closed behind him.
And the cabin had fallen quiet.
Too quiet.
Elara sat near the fire, wrapped in one of the thick blankets Kaelen had shoved at her earlier with a complaint about her looking like she might freeze to death if som
