The winter night had settled over the alpine valley with an absolute, ringing stillness. Outside the thick glass of the cottage windows, the snow-laden pines stood like silent sentinels under a vast, dark sky dusted with a million brilliant stars. Inside the master bedroom, the world had been systematically narrowed to a vacuum of perfect, uninterrupted peace. Astrid had spent the evening reinforcing the boundary wards around the valley, but now, her heavy tactical gear had been discarded, left in a neat pile near the cedar wardrobe. She sat on the edge of the massive wooden bed, her bare feet resting against the cold stone floor, though her internal temperature ran hot enough to turn the room into a summer haven. Her broad, sun-browned shoulders—mapped with the pale, healed silver scars of a lifetime of war—were entirely relaxed. Carmilla stood near the hearth, where the final embers of a cedar fire cast a deep, amber glow across her porcelain skin. She wore only a loose, weightl
Last Updated : 2026-09-10
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