Chapter 130

Aria's POV

The third institute residency began on a Monday in late April.

Beth had been at Fenwick for a week already, preparing the conditions the way she prepared everything — methodically, attending to the small things that became invisible when they were right and conspicuous when they weren't. The communal writing room facing the river. The library holdings refreshed with materials from the second cohort's contributions. The timing of each day's structure calibrated for the rhythm she'd learned from two residencies of what sustained serious work required.

She sent a message the evening before the cohort arrived: *Ready. Fenwick is in full spring. The river path is...