Chapter 15: Shadows and Shields

The mall opened into a wide stretch of sunlight where the crowd flowed in all directions. Vendors lined the walkways outside, their stalls bright with colors paintings leaned on low easels, trays of woven bracelets glittered in the afternoon light, and the sweet smell of roasted chestnuts drifted from a cart on the corner.

Pia moved with her usual calm. She paused at the chestnut vendor, her face steady, her hands graceful as she accepted a small paper bag of warm nuts. She peeled one slowly, almost absent-minded, as if nothing had happened inside the shop.

Kathalina, however, carried the memory of Agnes’s gaze with her. She still felt the weight of it…...cold, sharp, unsettling. Every laugh from a stranger nearby seemed too loud, every shadow too dark. For a moment, she hugged her bag close to her chest, as if to anchor herself.

But then she caught Pia’s expression. Not hard, not cruel, simply steady. Pia cracked another chestnut shell with the same patience she might use turning a p