Dimitri's POV
My first instinct was to throw myself in front of Lyra, to shield her. I didn’t understand where that impulse came from but the moment our eyes met, I saw the terror in hers. It hit me like a blow to the chest, stealing my breath. I had never witnessed anyone look so petrified, so fragile. Yet, beneath that fear, there was something else that pulled me in, that made me want to hold her close and never let go.
The more I looked, the more I saw it: panic, desperation, the suffocating weight of being cornered. And in that heartbeat, I knew I would do anything to help her, to protect her.
Then the guards stormed in, forming a barrier around me. But I wasn’t some helpless damsel. Stepping out from their protective ring, I fixed my gaze on Celeste’s twisted expression, her eyes
