The note had been waiting in the hem of the green gown since the Hearthfire. Mira returned the dress that morning, pressed and folded, and Ariana, shaking it out, found a slip of cream paper in the hidden seam. The ink was quick and elegant.
Kael will destroy you. Not out of malice. Out of obligation. Ask him what else he has signed in blood. If you wish to hear the rest, the border stone at the old mill, midnight, alone. Burn this. L.
Ariana read it twice. She did not burn it. She did not hide it, or go creeping to the old mill at midnight, to a man with a gloved hand and a smile like a closed door. For the first time in that house, she made a choice nobody had forced on her. She folded the note, put it in her pocket, and set out for the tower.
It was past ten. The manor had gone quiet
