Lyra’s POV
My hands shook as they hovered above Rhyker’s lifeless body. He was so still. I kept telling myself he wasn’t gone—not yet.
I needed to believe that, I had to. The sound of his shallow breathing was the only thing keeping me tethered to reality, but even that was fading, with every breath he took, I felt my heart splinter further. There was nothing I could do but wait. The seconds felt like hours, each one dragging me deeper into the abyss.
“Did I fail him? Was I too late?”
I hadn’t saved him from this curse. All our struggles, everything we had fought for, and it had come down to this. Him, lying there, unconscious, and me… powerless.
I pressed my palm to his chest, willing myself to feel something—anything. A pulse, a sign, a shift. But there was nothing. His heart beat
