POV: Lyra
I didn't tell Kairo where I was going.
He would've stopped me. He would've told me I wasn't ready, that the Emberbloods were too dangerous, that every move I made needed to be calculated.
But I was done waiting for permission.
I needed answers.
So I took the path beyond the southern gate, the one that led into the Whispering Woods. No guards. No patrols. Just fog and silence and the strange feeling that something old was watching from the trees.
The air thickened with every step.
And so did the whispering.
At first, I thought it was the wind.
But then it said my name.
Lyra.
The voice was soft. Feminine. Familiar in a way that made my chest ache.
I don't know what made me keep walking, only that something inside me — something ancient and restless — needed to know what waited on the other side of the mist.
When I reached the clearing, the whispers stopped.
There was nothing but a pool of moonlight and a single figure in the center, draped in a red cloak, face shadowed.
"You came alone," the figure said, voice calm.
I didn't answer right away. My hand hovered near my side where I kept a blade. I wasn't sure if it would help. But I felt stronger now. More aware. Less afraid.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"A memory you forgot," she said. "But I never forgot you."
She lowered her hood.
And I froze.
Because she looked like me.
Not exactly. Her face was older, sharper. But the fire in her eyes — that was mine. And the symbol on her wrist, glowing faintly under the moonlight — I'd seen it before.
In my dreams.
"You're one of them," I whispered. "An Emberblood."
She nodded slowly. "But once, I was your sister."
The world tilted.
"No," I said, voice breaking. "I don't have a sister."
She stepped forward.
"You don't remember me because they made sure you wouldn't. They cut your memories, sealed your flames, and dropped you in the arms of a dying Alpha who had no idea what you were."
I staggered back.
This wasn't real.
It couldn't be.
"I was there the night they took you," she said. "I fought for you. I bled for you. And now, after all these years, I finally found you."
I wanted to run.
I wanted to scream.
But I couldn't look away.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, trying to steady my breath.
"To remind you who you are," she said. "And who you were always meant to be."
I stepped closer.
Not because I trusted her — but because something deep inside me did.
She reached for my hand and pressed something into my palm.
A stone.
Small. Black. Warm.
"Keep this," she said. "When your bond with the Alpha weakens, this will remind you of what still burns."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
She smiled sadly. "You're powerful, Lyra. But you're still chained to him. You feel it, don't you? The bond pulling you to him. Protecting you. But also controlling you."
"I'm not controlled."
She gave me a look that said otherwise.
"When the time comes," she said, "you'll have to choose."
Then she vanished into flame.
Just like that.
No footsteps. No trace. Just smoke.
And the burning stone in my hand.
I walked back in a daze, heart pounding.
I didn't tell Kairo when I returned. I didn't tell anyone.
But I hid the stone beneath my pillow.
And for the first time, I felt something strange inside me.
Doubt.