CHAPTER 259
KATYA POV
The door stood at the end of the corridor like it had been waiting. Chiara stopped a step behind me. For once, she didn't rush ahead. Didn't tease. Didn't reach for the handle.
"This is it," she said softly, like saying it louder might wake something. I nodded, though my throat felt too tight to speak.
My hand hovered inches from the door, fingers curled inward, unsure. The air here felt different—cooler, heavier, as if it remembered things.
I told myself it was just a room. Just walls. Just space. But my pulse didn't believe me. I exhaled slowly and wrapped my fingers around the handle. It was colder than I expected. Solid. Real. I turned it before I could think better of it.
The door opened without a sound. Light spilled out first—warm and pale, cutting through the dim corridor behind us. I stepped inside, and the scent hit me immediately.
