#Chapter 70: Reward

Richard I found her at dawn. The halls were still, echoing with the kind of hush that only existed before the day remembered to be loud. Fog pressed against the windows, softening the sharp edges of the House, while the sky beyond the eastern wing began to bruise with the first hues of sunrise, rose, lavender, and a trace of gold curling above the trees. I climbed the spiral stair to the observation tower slowly, knowing without doubt that she’d be there. I hadn’t seen her since the letter went out, but I felt her absence like a bruise that never fully stopped aching. She was already there. Bundled in a blanket too thin for the hour, Amelia sat near the arched window, facing the awakening world beyond. The morning light spilled over her shoulders, outlining her in silhouette. The red ink on the sleeve of her sweater caught my eye, vivid and unmistakable, a smudge from the letter I had written, the one signed with every ounce of resolve I had left. She didn’t turn when I ope