Chapter 20 The Auction Of The Damned

• That night, we slept in the empty house. No cameras. No contact with the outside world. For the first time in weeks, I felt something close to peace. Or maybe it was just the calm before the storm.
• The house remained silent. A dense, almost ancient silence. As if the walls held secrets we had yet to decipher. Outside, the snow fell slowly, softly, covering everything in an ironic layer of white. As if the world were trying to disguise death with beauty.
• I sat by the fire, wrapped in a thick blanket that couldn’t quite reach the cold growing inside me. Dante stood in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames as if they could answer him. I looked at him. Not the way enemies do. Not even the way lovers do.