RAVENNA
Elias and Mira were chatting softly at the dining table, their laughter a low hum in the background, but I wasn’t really there. I sat with them, nodded when they spoke to me, smiled when appropriate, but my mind was elsewhere. It was with Riven, the letter, everything that had been happening and the secret I’d buried too long.
I rubbed the back of my neck, a nervous tick I’d picked since coming here. Mira was telling Elias about her sister’s disastrous attempt at baking cinnamon rolls, something that ended with a fire alarm and a broken oven, but all I heard was the pounding of my own heartbeat.
Then suddenly, Mira gasped and clapped her hands. “Oh, I completely forgot! There’s a town party tomorrow!”
Elias blinked. “What kind of party?”
“One of those long all-day events, from
