POV: Holly
Holly had learned that there were different kinds of silence.
There was the quiet of the mountains, heavy with snow and breath and life waiting beneath the ground. There was the warm hush of the packhouse at night, filled with distant heartbeats and the comfort of not being alone.
And then there was this.
This silence wasn’t empty. It pressed in on her, thick and deliberate, like it had weight. Like it expected something from her.
She sat with her back against cold stone, knees drawn to her chest, wrists bound loosely enough to remind her they could be tighter if Korren chose. The rope bit into her skin every time she shifted, rough fibers scraping against skin already sore from the journey here.
She didn’t bother struggling anymore.
That was what he wanted.
The space sh
