POV: Lyra
I tried not to touch the stone again.
I really did.
But it called to me — not with words, not even with magic. It was something deeper. Like a heartbeat echoing under my skin, like a whisper I couldn't quite catch. It hummed when I got close. It pulsed whenever Kairo left the room.
Tonight, I gave in.
I waited until the halls were silent. Until I was alone, curled beneath a blanket that still carried his scent. Then I reached for it, slowly, like I already knew what I'd see would change everything.
And I was right.
The second my fingers brushed its surface, the vision hit me harder than ever before.
This wasn't fire.
This wasn't warmth.
This was a hunt.
I ran through snow.
Barefoot.
Breath ragged.
Blood soaking the edges of my white dress — someone else's, I think. Not mine.
The forest around me was silent, but I wasn't alone. Something moved behind the trees. Fast. Heavy. Powerful.
Then I heard him.
"Don't run from me."
I froze.
Kairo's voice.
But not the Kairo I knew.
Not soft. Not torn.
This one was cruel. Sharp-edged. Hungry.
I turned slowly.
He stood in the clearing.
Black cloak. Bloodied hands. His eyes burned — not gold, not the usual molten warmth — but red.
Firelight red.
Like someone had replaced the man I knew with a monster that wore his face.
"Please," I whispered.
He tilted his head, the way a predator does before it pounces.
"You broke the bond," he said. "Now I have no reason to hold back."
Then he lunged.
I gasped and shot upright in my bed, chest heaving.
The stone slipped from my fingers and rolled onto the floor. I couldn't bring myself to touch it again.
Not tonight.
Not after that.
The fear lingered in my body like smoke, clinging to my ribs. It wasn't just the vision. It was the feeling.
That version of Kairo hadn't just chased me.
He'd wanted to destroy me.
And something inside me whispered the most terrifying thought of all:
What if it wasn't just a vision?
What if it was a warning?
I wrapped my arms around my knees and sat there until the sky turned gray with morning.
I didn't sleep.
And when Kairo came to check on me, I didn't open the door.
Because I didn't trust myself to pretend nothing had changed.