Ivy’s POV
The snow comes early this year.
It drifts slow and silent through the Blackwood trees, landing in soft clumps on the stone paths and rooftops. It makes everything look gentler than it is. Like the cold world is trying to be kind.
I sit on the balcony outside my room, wrapped in one of the thick wool blankets from the east hall. My breath clouds in the air. The sky above is pale and endless.
I like the cold. It numbs the parts of me that ache too loud.
There’s a knock on the door behind me. Soft. Hesitant.
I don’t answer.
A pause, then it creaks open anyway. Only one person waits after knocking like that.
Elias.
He steps out onto the balcony without a word, his boots crunching softly in the snow that’s gathered along the edges. He’s carrying something small in his hands—w
