Rosie’s P.O.V
The morning air was cold, sharper than usual, like it had something to prove. A warning, maybe. I stood by the arched window, the one that looked over the eastern woods, trying to settle the growing unease in my chest. Something was coming, i could feel it in my bones, that instinctive tremble passed down from generations of women who had learned to survive in a world that was never built for them.
And just as i expected, the Elders came knocking.
They arrived without warning, draped in their ceremonial robes, all gray silks and dried bones hanging from belts like charms. Four of them, led by Elder Meron, the one who always stared too long, like he was trying to see through your soul and tear it apart thread by thread.
“We’ve come to see the girl,” Meron said, his voice c
