POV: Ryker / Ayla

The southern ledger is still missing, but Sera did not leave only one trail.

We find the second book in the last place any of us expected to look—inside the lining of an old travel case that Finn recovered from the attic and set aside as empty personal effects. Ayla is the one who notices the weight is wrong. She runs her hand along the bottom seam, feels the slight resistance, and looks up at me without speaking. I take the case from her, set it on the table, and open the lining with a short blade.

The ledger is thin, bound in plain dark cloth,...