Mira's POV
Sleep refused to come that night, no matter how many times I turned over or how carefully I arranged the pillows or how firmly I told myself that exhaustion would eventually win out regardless of what my mind wanted.
Everything Lyra had said kept circling instead, refusing to settle into anything resembling rest. The bond accelerating beyond anyone's control. Someone, somewhere, orchestrating all of it for reasons still hidden from us. The mark spreading across Rowan's skin the same way it had spread across mine, evidence that whatever force had set this entire chain of events into motion had no intention of waiting for either of us to catch up.
Eventually I gave up entirely, pulling a shawl around my shoulders and slipping quietly out of my room, down through the manor's dar
