~Father, it's Ashlynn. I'm alive, I'm well, and Mother and Jocey are both with me…~
The feeling of reading those words was indescribable.
Rhys had suspected that Ashlynn had survived Owain's attempt to murder her ever since the Inquisitor, Diarmuid, brought him a sketch of the mark he'd found on the body that was supposed to be Ashlynn's. He'd received confirmation of her survival when he was summoned to the Isle of the Drowned by the Esselk'ti, the Witch of Deep Currents.
For weeks, he'd known, and he'd taken action on that knowledge, dispatching men and ships to put his plans into motion.
But knowing wasn't the same as holding a letter from his lost daughter in his hands. Ashlynn's handwriting was as crisp and as neat as it had been when she wrote out invitations to her tragic wedding, and he recognized it in an instant.
