Lyra’s POV
There’s a particular kind of madness that comes after the confrontation. After the truth’s already burned through you like acid. You think the worst part is finding out, but it’s not.
It’s what comes after.
The silence.
The waiting.
The slow, creeping realization that now you know, and it hasn’t changed anything.
That was me. After Leo.
After reading Project Obsidian and hearing him say he’d planned it all. The manipulation. The marriage. The control. Like I was a chess piece carved just for him.
I told him it made me sick.
He told me it made him certain.
And then he kissed me like he could taste the betrayal on my tongue.
I should have run.
Instead?
I went back to my room.
Crawled into the bed that still smelled like his cologne and stared at the ceiling, wonderin
