Ayla's POV
The quiet didn't last.
By the next morning the snow had stopped falling, but it sat heavier than before—thick on every surface, blanketing rooftops and branches and the faint tracks leading toward the tree line. The world looked softer for it.
It wasn't.
I felt it before I understood why—that pressure behind my eyes, the prickling awareness beneath my skin that couldn't be reasoned with because it didn't come from reason. It came from somewhere older than thought.
"It's back," Tala said.
I threw the blankets off and dressed fast.
The kitchen was quiet when I got there, but not the comfortable kind.
Kael stood at the counter with his phone, thumb moving across the screen, eyes narrowed at whatever he was reading. Soren leaned against the opposite counter with his arms fol
