Lyra POV It hits me all at once, without warning or mercy. One moment I am standing there trying to make sense of what I just felt, trying to hold onto logic and everything I know to be true, and the next moment I cannot breathe. My chest tightens so suddenly it feels like something invisible has wrapped around my lungs and squeezed. The air comes in shallow, uneven pulls that do not feel like enough, like no matter how much I inhale it will never reach where it needs to.My heart is racing too fast, too loud, pounding so hard it drowns out everything else. I press my hand against my chest as if that might steady it, as if I can force my body to slow down, but it does nothing. If anything, it makes me more aware of how out of control I am.Kael’s name crashes through my mind again, sharper this time, dragging everything else with it. I smelled him. I know I did. That was not memory, and it was not grief twisting reality into something it is not. It felt real. It was real.But it cann
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