Elena returned to the sealed box containing her mother's belongings, determined to search every remaining item more thoroughly than her earlier, hurried examination had allowed.
She found it near the bottom, beneath layers of old jewelry and faded fabric, a small bundle of letters tied together with a ribbon that had nearly disintegrated with age, the handwriting on the outer fold unfamiliar until Elena recognized it with a sudden, sharp intake of breath.
"Logan," she said, finding him in the training yard that evening, her voice carrying barely contained excitement now. "I found correspondence between our mothers. Direct correspondence, Logan, not simply secondhand reference through other letters."
He abandoned his training immediately, following her back to the private study where Kir
