It took Lira two days to feel the silence. Elias was gone by morning, reappearing only at dusk. The house creaked, sighed, groaned. The shadows stretched long and seemed to move even when nothing stirred.
One night, while wandering, she found a hallway she hadn’t noticed before. Narrow, colder than the rest. At the end was a door carved with roses. Locked.
She pressed her ear against it.
A breath. She was sure of it. A soft exhale from the other side. It was so close, so human.
She spun. Elias stood in the dark hallway, expression unreadable.
"That wing is unsafe. Do not linger."
Her voice trembled. "Why was it locked?"
"To keep what's inside from getting out."
But the breath on the other side of the door continued long after.
