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Chapter 148

Author: Prince
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-09 23:21:41

Lyra's POV

The palace slept, or at least it pretended to. I could deny it all I want, but I knew something else thrummed beneath the faux silence of the place. It was concerning, but for one night, I just wanted to pay myself in the back for doing a good job. Maybe what I'd done tonight was going to have consequences, but I was going to have to deal with it later.

From the balcony above the great hall I could still hear the faint echo of music, the aftertaste of celebration clinging to the air like smoke. People were laughing somewhere, drinking to a union they thought was made of love. They didn’t know what kind of bargain it really was, and what was on the stakes for me, seeing that I'd practically used myself as a living sacrifice.

My shoes barely whispered against the marble as I walked. The corridor to Xavier’s chambers seemed longer tonight; the torches burned lower, their light unsteady, like even the fire itself didn’t want to see what waited ahead.

I arrived in no time,
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