Another letter arrived for Haley in the morning of the day before Sienna-Rose decided it was finally time to take them all down to the docks and show them the ship she and Ulysses had been laboring over for the past month. The message, however, was not a cheerful one. Its contents carried an urgency, almost frantic in tone, as if the writers could barely restrain themselves. They pleaded for Haley to come to Orrivelle as quickly as possible, their words trembling with anxiety.
"Something must have happened," Emily murmured to her younger sister, her brow furrowing as she smoothed the creases in the letter.
The two of them sat in the garden of Haley's house, the late afternoon sun spilling gold over the trimmed hedges and the clinking porcelain of their teacups. The air was fragrant with roses, yet tension lingered between them. Emily set the letter down beside her saucer and leaned closer. "But tell me—how could they have possibly learned about you marrying Sienna-Rose?"
