Page 29 of Nico

Logan peered over my shoulder. "Well, that's anticlimactic."

"It's evidence your stalker really exists,” I reminded him.

He sighed. "You aren't going to let me eat them, are you?"

“Absolutely not,” I told him.

"They could be really good chocolates,” Logan said.

Nico immediately pointed at me. "I'm with the scary bodyguard."

I closed the box, then walked directly toward the trash bin. I was about to drop it in there, but Nico grabbed the box first.

“Better to analyse it first,” Nico said.

7

NICO

I was in Logan's trailer again, sifting through the mountain of fan mail he'd received over the past few days. The pile was a little smaller today, but I was sure the stalker would send Logan something again.

Normally, his mail would already have been screened by security, with anything that looked like a threat filtered out before it ever reached him.

My nose wasn't as sharp as some wolves', but I was still pretty confident I could tell if something smelled strange or suspicious. Besides, after what had happened with the chocolates, I wanted to see everything for myself.

Isaac had repeatedly insisted that it wasn't safe and that he should at least be there while I went through the mail.

Didn't he already have enough work following Logan around and keeping an eye on him everywhere he went? Just that morning, Logan had needed to be in makeup by three, which meant Isaac had been up and working long before that.

Still, Isaac had finally seemed to relax after the first few times I'd gone through Logan's mail without incident. There hadn't actually been much that was overtly suspicious.

Either Logan's fans were remarkably tame, which I sincerely hoped was the case, or they knew his mail was being monitored so closely that there was no point in sending anything that would immediately get flagged.

If the latter was true, they might simply find less obvious ways of getting to Logan. That was what worried me.

I set aside a few particularly heartfelt letters and some drawings that looked like they'd been made by younger fans, which I was sure Logan would want to see, then moved over to the dressing table, where the flowers he'd received had been placed.

I gently pushed a few bouquets aside until I found what I was looking for. Six long-stemmed white daisies, simply wrapped in kraft paper and tied with what looked like jute or raffia.

They looked almost exactly like the flowers Ailwyn had received during his coronation in the game. They were a symbol of loyalty and devotion.

I picked up the card attached to the flowers. The message was exactly what I'd expected.

To my Lord Ailwyn, King of the Elves. Forever your most faithful servant.

I was almost certain these had come from the same person who'd sent the chocolates. Almost.

The chocolates had arrived in an elegant silver box wrapped in black ribbon, Ailwyn's colours. The card had been handwritten and embossed with motifs from the game, and even the wrapping itself had been distinctive.

When I'd looked into it, the exact wrapper and card weren't commercially available. I wouldn't have been surprised if whoever had sent them had bought them at a Renaissance fair or someplace that sold custom stationery.

There had been details everywhere. This had almost none. It was as if the stalker had course-corrected. Now, everything had been stripped down to the bare minimum.

The card was printed on ordinary paper, the sort anyone could buy from an office supply store or print shop. The message was printed rather than handwritten. There was no unusual design, nothing that would give us a clue about where it had come from.

Even the flowers weren't some rare or exotic variety that might have pointed us toward a particular florist. Someone could have bought them almost anywhere: a florist, a farmers' market, or even a grocery store.

If I hadn't been looking for it, I could have easily dismissed the whole thing as an ordinary fan gift.