That evening, they gathered in a modest two-story house that had once served as a barracks for soldiers or merchants, lent to them by the village chief as a temporary home. Ard sat at a long wooden dining table. To his right sat Eva, Alicia, Milia, and Patricia; to his left were Beatrice, Rosalind, Mirea, and Claudia. Meanwhile, Geoffrey, Ainsley, and Irwin had already retreated to their own rooms. Everyone remained silent, including Ard.
As he looked at each of them—Eva, Alicia, Milia, Patricia, Beatrice, Rosalind, Mirea, and Claudia—their faces seemed calm, though a bit stiff. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife despite the silence. Ard's mind was racing.
