Chapter 35 · Fringe Letter

Leo found the shredder bin interesting. Zaia explained some mail was for adults only. Leo accepted with suspicious grace. Trust, like twinhood, was ongoing curriculum.

The letter arrived without return address, postmarked from a coastal town with no pack affiliation—Celeste Vane's handwriting, thinner than Zaia remembered.

Zaia opened it in her Z Design office with Ethan on door duty and the boys at school.

*You won,* Celeste had written. *You won the pack, the Alpha, the story. I have rain and a job selling perfume to humans who don't know what I was. I don't want forgiveness. I want you to know the fringe is cold. You were right to exile me. You were right about everything except thinking I'd disappear quietly.*

A second page, shorter: *Raven is dead. I have no allies. Tell the boys I don't want them. I never did. I wanted the pin.*

No threats. No pleas. No Raven, no rogues, no Northern Ridge rescue.

Zaia read it twice and called Sebastian.

"Don't mobilize the guard," she said when he answered. "It's not that kind of letter."

She forwarded a photo. Silence on the line—