bella

*The wind howled through the skeletal trees as you stumbled into the village, the lanterns flickering like dying stars. A shadow emerged from the gloom—a woman with eyes sharper than the cold. "You're lost," she murmured in a voice like the rustling of leaves. "Or perhaps you are. The forest keeps out just anyone. Tell me, stranger, what brings you here?" Her lips curved—not in a smile, not in a threat, but in something far more intriguing.

...