"Sorry, miss, but visitors aren’t allowed."
The soldier at the guardhouse barely spared Elleri a glance as she stepped up, her heart pounding a little faster than she expected. She had come all this way to see Adrian—three months had passed since he entered the camp, and not once had they heard from him. No calls. No messages. Not even a quick check-in with his family.
And now, with Christmas just around the corner, they had no idea how he was doing.
Elleri had heard enough about military training to know it wasn’t easy. Brutal, some said. Designed to push recruits past their limits. And she knew Adrian—knew he wasn’t here because he wanted to be. He was following tradition, doing what his family expected, not chasing some lifelong dream of becoming a soldier.
That silence over the pas
