Lyra’s povThe room was still a graveyard of silence when Ronan moved.He cut through the crowd of nobles and warriors like a storm barely restrained, his eyes locked on me, burning with questions I knew he wasn’t about to ask here. He firmly wrapped his hand around my arm again and without a single word to anyone else, he pulled me toward the door.“No one follows,” he growled over his shoulder. No one dared argue.The halls blurred as he led me through them, his pace quick and relentless, until we reached his study. He shoved the heavy door shut with a force that rattled the shelves and only then released me.He turned, pacing once, twice, then facing me with eyes like wildfire. “What the hell was that, Lyra?” His voice was low, strained, like he was fighting to hold it together. “You touched that thing—like it was nothing—and it screamed, and then… and then it just died.” He dragged a hand through his hair, his chest rising and falling fast. “You could have been killed. Or worse
Lyra’s povChaos erupted.Shouts erupted, boots thundered against stone, chairs scraped violently across the floor. I barely had time to register the corrupted flames spilling on the ground before Ronan was on me. His hands were firm but not hard enough to bruise, as he hauled me up from where I’d been crouched.“Lyra!” His voice was commanding and held something that seemed like fear. Before I could even find my footing, he dragged me across the room, away from the arrow still burning with taht foul smell and black against the cracked stone. He shoved me into a shadowed corner, his body half-shielding mine, and barked orders like the Alpha he was.“Guards! Inside, now! Lock this room down. No one enters or leaves without my word. You—” he jabbed a finger toward two warriors near the door, “—find the bastard who fired that arrow. I want the ground searched. Every rooftop, every shadow. Bring them to me alive if you can. Dead if you must.”His words were filled with bloodlust, a barely
Lyra’s pov“Child,” she murmured, “you must understand who you stand against if you are to survive him.”“I understand. Please go on.”“You’ve heard whispers of Veyran,” she continues. “But you do not yet know what he is, what he was meant to be.”I swallowed, fear and curiosity growing inside me. “Then tell me.”The goddess inclined her head, as if weighing the risk of pouring this story into mortal ears. Then, finally, she sighed.“Long ago, before the first packs were ever born, before your kind even knew what it meant to bare your fangs and howl at the sky, there was only me,” she said. “I was whole. Light and shadow, mercy and fury, creation and destruction. I was balance.”She lifted her hand, and stars flickered between her fingers like embers. “But within me was a fragment… a hunger that did not rest. He was born from me, a shadow carved out of my flesh. My counterpart. My wound. My son.”Her voice dropped lower, as if she despised every word she was saying. “That wound was na
Lyra’s povI swiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand, trying to steady the fire still crackling in my chest. My vow against Selene echoed in my head as I sealed it in my heart, nothing was going to stop.me, but the goddess’s seriousness pulled me back so I pushed my anger aside momentarily.She reached for my hand, folding my trembling fingers into her cool, steady ones. “Lyra,” she said softly, though it brought me little comfort because I knew that whatever was coming next wouldn't be comforting “you already know that Kael has learned of your survival.”My stomach clenched. Yes. The messenger’s words in the war room repakyed in my mind. Kael, the King of Moonstone—the man who had denied m and chosen Celeste over me and cast me to be killed. He was going to start searching for me.But why?To finish what he had started? The thought sent a shiver down my spine.What did he want from me? Can't they all just leave me be? He had already gotten what he wanted, I was insig
Lyra’s povI could feel my mind slipping away from the war room even as the voices of nobles droned on around me. There was a ringing in my ears, faint at first, like the chime of a bell. It grew louder and louder, drowning out Elias’s sneering tone, Aldric’s calm command, even Ronan’s low growl of warning.I pressed a hand to my temple, trying to steady myself. Something was tugging at me, pulling me away. I pushed back my chair to excuse myself, but the world tilted. The torches blurred into faint golden light in front of my eyes, the stone beneath my feet swayed like waves.Then darkness swallowed me.I heard Ronan’s voice first,it was desperate and urgent, calling my name. Garrick’s too, shouting as though he could anchor me back with his voice alone. But it was like I was sinking beneath water, their words muffled, distorted, as though coming from a world far above me.And then—light.When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in the war room anymore. I stood in a hall so breathtaking it
Ronan's povI hated everything.A dark god was in our realm supposedly and my mate—the girl fate had delivered to me battered, stubborn, and more radiant than any dawn—was the one destined to face it.The nobles stared at her as though she some sort of puzzle they were trying to figure out. Some looked at her like a lost cause because they believed that she couldn't save us, I could see it in their eyes. Lyra herself stood too still, her shoulders trembling slightly. She was far away in her mind, lost in thoughts of a prophecy she didn't ask for.I hated seeing her like that.I turned to her, every noble eye following me, and moved to her side. Her fingers twitched when I touched her elbow, but she didn’t resist as I guided her toward the long table. I pulled a chair out, placing her between Garrick and myself, ensuring she would never feel alone in this pit of vipers. Garrick gave her a small smile, murmuring something that made her lips twitch with the faintest attempt at a smile. I