In His Ruins
The air smelled of woodsmoke, dried sage, and the rich, yeasty scent of fresh bread baking in the small stone oven built into the hearth.
Nora sat at the writing desk by the southern window, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows as she carefully checked over a stack of ledger sheets Marcus had brought up from the lower valley districts two days earlier. Her pen scratched rhythmically against the paper, calculating crop yields, grain reserves, and trade distributions for the upcoming winter months.