The letter came at dusk.
Not rushed. Not marked urgent.
Just another folded page carried in the runner’s satchel — but Lila knew before she even broke the seal that something inside it had shifted.
Alden’s handwriting was steadier now.
Longer lines. Fewer scratched-out thoughts.
He was growing into his words the way he was growing into himself.
Caleb read it first, then passed it silently to Lila.
She read slowly.
Carefully.
The training is still brutal.
I can outrun most of them now, but the strategy drills are worse.
They make us solve problems that don’t have right answers.
I met someone.
She’s an Alpha heir too. From the northern highlands.
She challenges everything I say.
I think Rowan would like her.
Don’t tell mom yet — she’ll start planning a wedding.
I don’t know
