Valerie's POV
The blizzard hit without warning.
One moment we were marching through frozen wasteland, the next the world had vanished behind a wall of white. The wind howled like a living thing, biting through our cloaks and freezing the breath in our lungs.
"Find shelter!" I shouted, my voice barely audible over the storm.
Fenris led us to a cave carved into the mountainside—a narrow opening that widened into a chamber just large enough for all twelve of us. We crowded inside, pressing together for warmth as the snow piled up at the entrance.
The cold was more than physical.
I felt it seeping into my bones, into my soul. A weight of despair that pressed down on my chest, whispering that we would never make it. That we were already dead. That we should just give up and let the snow t
