Valtira.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat. “What… what did you just say?” The words trembled out of me, even though I fought to steady them.
Lyssandra stood there like a queen of ashes, arms folded, chin lifted, that sickening calm draped across her face as if she had crafted it all her life.
“I said,” she repeated slowly, enunciating each syllable like she was speaking to a child, “you’re not going in there. You should step aside. They’re holding a ceremony for the new Luna. She’s about to walk in any moment from now.”
My heart twisted sharply, an invisible hand squeezing it until my fingers numbed. Everything around me blurred. The hallway, the murmurs, the still air—everything moved too fast. Like the world was dragging me through it with claws instead of hands.
“You’re rea
