Lyra’s POV
I didn’t speak for a long time.
Didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe right. Just sat there, surrounded by papers that smelled like rot and expensive lies. Leo’s lies. My life, printed in ink like a bad joke with a body count.
Across from me, Adrian stood still. Watching. Waiting. Probably hoping I’d cry. Or crack. Or do something dramatic enough to make him feel like the hero he never got to be.
But I didn’t break.
I calcified.
Slow and silent, like stone hardening around something soft that didn’t want to die again.
“You should go,” I said finally, my voice colder than it had any right to be.
Adrian tilted his head. “Lyra—”
“No.”
I stood. Slowly. Like every bone in my body had just remembered how to hold a grudge.
“I don’t want your comfort. I don’t need your protection. I s
