Estrella

Thud.

I sit up in bed, clutching the blankets to my chest. My heart races. Someone is attempting to break into my room.

The noise comes again, but this time, without the muffling of sleep, it sounds far more like a knock. I swallow.

Silly, I chide myself. Even in a serpent’s nest, paranoia doesn’t help anyone.

I slide from bed, shivering against the encroaching cold, and pull a robe on over my nightgown. The person outside knocks again, urgent but quiet. I hurry from my bedroom, through the sitting room with its low-burning embers in the fireplace, and open the door.

Anwen stands in the hall, hair and...