Chapter 7 – Shadows in the Cottage
**** Elara’s POV ****
The first sign that something was wrong was the silence.
Not the ordinary kind — the gentle quiet of the forest at dawn, where the birds hadn’t yet begun their songs and the breeze moved lazily through the leaves. This was heavier. Pressed down. As if the air itself was holding its breath.
I had been away since early morning, walking to the far end of the forest to check on the snare lines and pick up herbs I’d been drying in the sun. My hands were full — a small cloth bag of goldenroot, a satchel of winter mint — but as I rounded the bend in the narrow path leading to my cottage, my steps slowed.
Something in my chest tightened.
From here, I could see the edge of my small garden. The fence was untouched. The rosemary bush lean
