Some letters are easier to send than to answer.
Five months ago, locksmith Maren Vell finally broke fifteen years of silence and wrote to Seren Ashford—her former mentor, the woman who shaped her and then vanished from her life. No reply came. Maren made her peace with that.
Then Seren shows up on her doorstep.
“Your letter reached me. It took me a while to figure out how to answer. Turns out, I couldn’t do it on paper.”
But this isn’t just a reunion. Thornwick’s ancient waterwheel systems are failing in a pattern that points to deliberate sabotage—and the only person with the knowledge to cause it is the woman who designed them fifty years ago. When the city watch names Seren as their prime suspect, Maren must choose between the community she’s built and the mentor she’s only beginning to know again.
The evidence says guilty. Her instincts say otherwise. And somewhere in the tunnels beneath the city, someone is waiting to see which one she trusts.