Alice burst into Chloe’s bedchamber like a tempest in the dead of night, holding a letter from her husband in the Duchy of Carter.
You shred my heart into pieces.
The strongly worded first line cast a shadow of foreboding over Chloe. The closing line, I curse you, seemed to almost bleed from the parchment. Yet as Alice perused the letter, her face lit up with the joy of one who had received the sweetest of love notes.
“It looks like I should make my way back.”
“But you said you wanted to travel around Swanton.”
“Another time, perhaps. I must confess, taking care of the twins has made me think about Lucas a lot.”
With that, Alice left as swiftly as she had arrived. As she stood waving on the deck of the ship, her cheeks aglow with excitement, she seemed to embody the essence of freedom.
