The Crimson Letter
Not anymore.
It was a thick hand-pressed paper with weight and intention, sealed with wax the deep, bruised color of old wine. Her name was scrawled across the front in inky black, the lettering sharp, elegant, and unmistakably deliberate.
Sloane Maren.
No return address. No postmark. No stamp. Just silence wrapped in crimson.
She approached it slowly, coffee forgotten. Her thumb brushed the wax seal, its edges chipped, imperfect, as if whoever sent it had pressed it with hurried hands. The faintest trace of something metallic curled from the envelope, ink, iron, memory.