Late March – The City in Grey
The Nest – Dawn After the Letter
The rain had ceased, but the clouds hadn't moved. The world outside The Nest hung suspended in that strange pale light that belonged neither to morning nor night — a purgatory of hours.
Serena Maxwell had not slept.
The letter from the Ministry lay open on her desk, the paper curled faintly at the edges from the damp. Christopher's signature gleamed faintly, carved into the heavy cream with the confidence of a man who never expected defiance.
Her eyes were dry, her body exhausted, but her thoughts refused to stop. They wound backward and forward through every choice that had brought her here. Each thought struck like a heartbeat — deliberate, merciless, inescapable.
