ADIRA

Kelvin’s words echo like a riddle I can’t untangle.

“Even if you search the entire outskirts of the city, every goddamn inch, she’s not there. You’ll find nothing.”

It replays in my mind like a whisper turned drumbeat even now, as I sit in the silence of my private chambers, the firelight throwing sharp angles across the stone walls. My hands are steady in my lap, but my heart won’t stop its pounding.

And it all began to make sense. The outskirts, nobody would have ever thought she would be there. Nobody has searched there for Iris because the possibility was ruled out before it was even considered.

Nothing...