“Hello, Adele.”

It wasn’t that late, but outside the window it was already pitch dark.

The sound of a fierce snowstorm battering the glass and the eerie howl of winter wind sweeping up from the valley reached every corner of the small house like screams.

He sat close by, near enough to seem painted there, watching her with the corners of his mouth pulled into a smile. Her feet refused to lift from the creaking wooden floor, stuck fast like they were glued down.

She stood there staring at him in a daze, and with a short sigh he rose and came toward her.

“Sweet Adele. You must have thought I’d never find you.”

Karl closed the distance before she knew it, and his shadow fell over her.

The room was stifling from the fire kept burning so long, yet Adele felt a chill she couldn’t shake and trembled.

He reached out and gently tilted up her chin, which kept drooping down.

The sight of her small chest rising and falling like a bird cupped in his hands amused him, and Karl laughed softly, seemingly satisfied.

He stroked Adele’s pale face with his thumb, slow and gentle, as she trembled in place like prey caught in a trap, with nowhere to run.

This was no longer a fantasy.

He buried his face in her white, slender neck and breathed in deeply. He slid his hand into her soft hair and stroked it, and felt her flinch.

He pressed a light kiss to the nape of her neck, then fixed his languid gaze on Adele’s green eyes. He liked these eyes that looked at no one but him, and wished he could stop time right there.

From somewhere far away, he thought he heard a blackbird cry.