CHAPTER THIRTEEN
With trembling hands, Sophia took the papers from the hidden space behind the panel. The square of a letter was sealed with blank wax and had her name written on it in a hurried script, the ink long since dry. She held it up to the light, looking for any clue to who had left it, and why.
The answer to the first part of it was obvious though. There were only a few people who knew about the existence of this compartment. If everyone knew, it would have been emptied long ago. That meant… that meant that this letter was from her parents, to her. She saw a matching one with Kate’s name and took it, tucking it away inside her dress unread. The one for herself, she took over to a table, staring at it as she tried to imagine all the things that might lie within.
“Why don’t you
