~LYRA'S POV~
The message arrived in the middle of a council briefing.
Cade brought it in quietly, the way he brought things that needed my attention but weren't emergencies, set it beside me on the table without interrupting the current speaker, gave me the look that meant when you have a moment. I waited until the Shadowfang territorial representative finished the point he was making, then picked up the paper.
I read it once.
Then I set it back down on the table with the particular careful placement of someone making sure their hands were doing something deliberate rather than reactive.
Three names. A supply checkpoint on the Shadowfang border. A request to cross into the territory and petition the new leadership. The border guard's note added, in small handwriting at the bottom: They don't appear to know who currently holds the position.
I knew those names. I'd known them for eighteen years. The first one I'd been calling stepmother since I was four years old.
