The training grounds didn’t quieten when they passed.
They only pretended to.
Lyra felt it in the air, eyes following, whispers barely swallowed, tension stretching behind them as a thread pulled too tight.
But none of that mattered.
Not when he was beside her.
Kael hadn’t spoken.
Not since the word mate slipped through the crowd.
Not since everything shifted from quiet speculation to something dangerously real.
Lyra stopped walking.
This time, deliberately.
Kael took two more steps before realizing.
He turned.
“What is it?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
She just looked at him.
And for the first time, she didn’t look uncertain.
She looked like she was done waiting.
“You heard them,” she said.
Kael’s jaw tightened slightly.
“They speak without understanding.”
Lyra stepp
