Lyra stood at Tyler’s window long after Mara left.
Below, the compound looked unchanged. Torches guttering. Wolves are moving along familiar paths, guards rotating in practiced patterns. A life pretending it could still be normal.
But normal was now a lie.
Ronan had put a blade in a man’s hand and sent him toward her chest.
Then he’d sent words after it.
If you don’t come willingly, the next one won’t miss.
Lyra kept hearing it, not as a sentence but as a countdown. A steady ticking in the back of her mind. It didn’t matter how still she held her body. It didn’t matter how she controlled her breathing. Fear lived deeper than discipline.
The bond pulsed in her ribs, tight and relentless. Tyler stood behind her, silent. His silence had weight. It crowded the room like a fourth wall, l
