Lyra's POV
I couldn’t move.
My limbs were frozen mid-air, like I was caught in a stringless web. The air around me crackled with power that didn’t belong to this world.
Her long black veil fluttered as she moved, hiding most of her face. But I could see her eyes, they were sharp, ancient, dark as the abyss, and they were staring straight into me.
She stopped a breath away and smiled. “I won’t kill you,” she said, her voice soft, “At least, not now.”
I tried to speak. Nothing came out.
She tilted her head, still watching me like I was a puzzle she was trying to solve. “You’re not what I expected. Are you really Ravenna?” she murmured. “Or just a girl playing dress-up in a dead woman’s skin?”
My heart slammed in my chest. Then she leaned in, so close her breath tickled my ear.
“Orio
