The palace did not return to normal.
It softened.
Voices lowered in the corridors. Footsteps became careful, measured. Doors opened and closed without force, as if even the walls understood that something delicate was still healing.
Nothing rushed her.
Not anymore.
Lyra noticed it first in the quiet.
Then in the way people looked at her.
Then in the way they didn’t ask questions.
She was awake now.
Fully.
Present.
But her body had not caught up yet.
The first time she tried to sit up without help, the world tilted.
Not dramatically.
Not violently.
Just enough to remind her that strength was no longer something she could assume.
Kael noticed immediately.
He always did.
“Slow,” he murmured, already beside her before she could pretend she was fine.
“I am going slow,” Lyra r
