Morning did not feel like morning.
It felt staged.
The palace was unusually calm.
Too calm.
Kael had already left.
Riven with him.
The gates closed behind them like a decision that couldn’t be reversed.
And Lyra
was left behind.
Not as punishment.
Not as neglect.
But as protection.
Or so they believed.
She stood alone in the upper corridor, watching the courtyard below.
Something in her chest felt… tight.
Not fear.
Not yet.
Just awareness.
That something had shifted.
The first sign came quietly.
A maid didn’t arrive.
Then a guard changed route without reporting it.
Then a door that should have been locked
wasn’t.
Lyra noticed all of it.
But she didn’t react immediately.
Because she was still trying to understand the pattern.
She stepped outside.
Just briefly.
T
