The lodge changed after dark.
Not in any way I could explain to someone else without sounding completely unhinged—but the shift was unmistakable. The warmth remained. Fire still burned low in their heaths, lanterns glowed along the corridors, and the storm outside continued its relentless assault on the mountain.
But something underneath it all woke up.
I felt it the moment I stepped into the hall.
The sounds were softer at night. The carpet swallowed my footsteps. The distant wind hummed through stone and timber like it was living and breathing inside the walls. The lodge no longer felt like a place designed for guests. It felt old. Watchful. As if the glamour and kindness was only a mask, stretched thin over something more enduring.
I told myself I was imagining it.
Snowed in. Emot
