The door closed behind them with a sound that felt too final for a simple hinge.
Wood met wood, iron locking iron, and the noise seemed to echo far longer than it should have, as though the shop itself had lungs and had chosen to inhale them whole.
Aurelia's breath caught.
The air inside was cooler than the street outside, heavy with unfamiliar scents.....resin, ash, old parchment, and something darker beneath it all. Not rot. Not decay. Something alive, but restrained.
Waiting.
The light dimmed immediately.
Thin slats near the ceiling allowed in just enough sun to stain the room in muted amber, but most of the illumination came from glass orbs mounted along the walls, their insides glowing faintly as if embers had been trapped within. Shadows pooled between shelves stacked with items she could not name ... hooked blades that curved too sharply to be practical, masks carved from bone, rings etched with symbols that seemed to shift when she wasn't looking directly at them.
