~Lyra~
I sat quietly beside Kaelis’s hospital bed, watching her staring blankly at the ceiling. eyes still red and swollen.
“You weren’t wrong about your brother,” Kaelis said suddenly, her voice hoarse and broken. “I misjudged him… all these years. I never even visited his grave.”
My throat tightened.
“He let me hate him,” Kaelis whispered. “He chose to let me live with hate... rather than tell me the truth.”
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, tracing down into her hair. “Vorrak showed me something... a message. Lucan left it for me. He said the Evergreen wasn’t safe—that something was wrong with your father’s finances. That some of his allies couldn’t be trusted. He didn’t have the full picture yet, but he was trying to get everyone out… And if he didn’t make it—” her voice
