"She never knew when to quit."
The silence stretched between them like ice on the verge of cracking, brittle and dangerous. Americus held the letter with the reverence someone might reserve for handling ancient manuscripts in Sterling Memorial Library's restricted collections, her usual theatrical energy replaced by something Silver had never seen before—genuine concern tempered with razor-sharp curiosity.
Silver's heart hammered against her ribs as she watched her roommate's dark eyes flick between the cream paper and her face, cataloguing every tell that betrayed the emotional devastation she'd been trying so desperately to hide. The Gothic tower room felt smaller somehow, the diamond-paned windows letting in winter light that seemed too bright after the emotional darkness she'd been wallowing in since before dawn.
