I had rejected her.
For weeks, those words had been enough to silence every doubt.
I had repeated them whenever Lyra's face appeared in my dreams.
Whenever I remembered the way she had looked at me after I said those cruel words.
Whenever I heard whispers about the girl who had been called cursed.
Whenever guilt crawled into my chest and refused to leave.
I had rejected her.
That was what everyone told me.
That was what I remembered.
So why didn't it feel like the truth anymore?
I stood alone in my study, staring at the old moon ceremony records spread across my desk.
The room was dark except for the small lamp burning beside me.
Three nights.
I had spent three nights searching.
Three nights going through records that were supposed to be unquestionable.
And every time I foun
