Chapter 3

The air in the lodge had grown thick, heavy with the scent of woodsmoke and the metallic tang of anticipation. I stood by the window, watching the snow fall in lazy, heavy flakes, blurring the line between the dark pines outside and the white interior. The fire had died down to a glowing bed of embers, casting long, dancing shadows across the polished hardwood floors. It was quiet now, the gala having spilled out into the main hall where the remaining guests were mingling, but up here, in the private quarters adjacent to the hot springs, it felt like the world had shrunk down to just two of us. I had been trying to slip out, to escape the weight of his gaze that had been burning into my skin since dinner. My coat was draped over the back of a velvet armchair, and I had been struggling with the heavy woolen scarf that kept tangling around my neck. It was a silly, minor inconvenience, the kind that felt like a metaphor for everything currently strangling my composure. I tugged at the end of the scarf, my fingers fumbling, frustrated by the lack of dexterity when my heart was hammering