Chapter 28: The Storm Within
The night air was thick with the scent of pine and the coming rain. Clouds had gathered all day, pressing low against the jagged spine of Moonshadow Ridge, and now they hung heavy and swollen, waiting for the right moment to break. Thunder rolled faintly in the distance, a deep murmur that made the windows of the cabin tremble.
Elena sat alone at the wooden table, her hands clasped tightly around a mug of tea that had long gone cold. The warmth had drained from it, much like the calm she had tried to hold onto these past few days. The flickering oil lamp above her head painted shadows across the walls, stretching and bending them like restless spirits.
Her mind refused to settle. No matter how many times she closed her eyes, she saw Adrian—his storm-gray eye
