-LILIAN-
The wound was gone. Not a scar, not a mark. Just smooth, unbroken skin where Lyra’s blade had pierced me. I touched my side again, then again, disbelief warring with a terrifying sense of wonder.
This power… this impossible ability to heal myself, to cheat death, was a secret I had to keep. No one could know. Especially not Alexander. Especially not his enemies. And not my own people, if I ever got back to them.
I changed out of the bloody dress, hiding it deep in a trunk, planning to burn it later. Lyra had fled, thinking me dead. Good. That meant I had time. Time to understand this new part of me. Time to train for it.
The next few weeks passed in a strange quiet. Alexander continued to be a shadowed figure in the castle. We didn't speak. He maintained his distance, and I m
