Lyra
The night was crisp, the kind of stillness that clung to your skin like mist. I slipped through the trees with the quiet ease of someone who knew how to move unseen. My cloak hugged my shoulders, black as the darkness around me, and the moonlight sifted gently through the branches overhead.
But I wasn’t alone.
I could feel him, Killian’s presence trailing behind me like a tether. His steps were heavy compared to mine, though he thought he was being quiet. His scent, that intoxicating mix of cedar and earth, reached me no matter how much distance I tried to put between us.
He knew. Somehow, he had known I would leave tonight. He had been waiting and watching.
I kept my face forward, never turning back. If he wanted to follow, let him. I wouldn’t make it easy for him to read me. My
