Chapter 56
The days following Callie's release settled into a strange, careful rhythm neither of them fully acknowledged out loud.
Each morning, she made her way to the small desk set up outside Chase's room, and each morning, he had genuine correspondence waiting for her now, real letters from his household in the north, formal responses needed for various dignitaries attending the ceremony. It gave the arrangement legitimacy, gave her parents no reason to question the continued help she provided, though both of them understood by now that the actual purpose had shifted into something else entirely.
"You have neat handwriting," Chase observed on the third morning, watching her work through a stack of formal replies, her pen moving steady and precise across each page. "Better than half
