Ranio's POV
I shouldn’t have thought of her like that — a betrayer, a Stealer of hearts. Why did I even allow my mind to wander into such thoughts about her? Lyra has always played with my emotions, tugging me one way and then the other. But seeing her in Nortman’s arms... it did something to me. I couldn't shake the image from my head. The way they embraced me — as if I didn’t exist, as if we didn’t exist.
I clenched my fists, pacing through the corridors, lost in my turmoil. I was hurt, deeply wounded by the sight of Nortman holding her. *Was I wrong to think she still cared for me?* The memory of her soft voice and pleading eyes flashed through my mind. And yet, there she was, in the arms of another.
“Ranio!”
The sound of my brother’s voice broke through my thoughts, pulling me back
