POV: Ayla

I ask for the room alone.

Caius hesitates only long enough to confirm the door will stay unlocked and that one of them will remain in the corridor. Ryker nods once and takes the first watch. Zane sets a fresh cup of tea on the table and leaves without making a joke of it. The bond settles into a quiet perimeter. They are close. They are not in the way.

I sit with the ledger open in front of me and begin again from the first page.

Her handwriting is steady throughout. Even when the content sharpens, the lines do not shake. She wrote the way she must...