CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
The mountain valley remained bathed in the lingering warmth of that perfect summer dawn, but Elena Voss could no longer feel its gentle embrace.
The seven sisters had stepped forward from the floating dock together, hands still lightly linked, yet an invisible fracture had already begun to spiderweb through their circle.
Elena kept her posture straight and her smile serene, the same graceful mask she had worn for decades. Inside, however, a cold, insistent dread coiled tighter with every heartbeat.
It had started weeks earlier with small, almost imperceptible cracks. Lila, her twin and eternal mirror, had begun retreating to the old study for hours, claiming she was simply organizing family mementos. “The past deserves proper filing,” Lila had said with that familia
