Lucian's POV
The question Lyra asked still hung in the air like a blade suspended above all our heads.
"Who am I meant to become?"
Her voice was barely more than breath, trembling, fragile, yet carrying a kind of power beneath it. A quiet, dangerous power that reminded me of the first night she came home to us as a newborn. That same softness, that same quiet strength… but now tangled with fear.
I opened my mouth to answer her.
But fate did not allow me to speak.
The floor beneath our feet gave a low groan, almost like the earth itself was warning us.
Selene stiffened beside me.
Adrian leaned forward, protective instinct rising in him like a tidal wave.
Lyra's pupils dilated. She felt it too. A pull. A vibration in the air. Something old. Something that tasted like blood and smoke and ruin.
Then...
A sharp crack split the silence.
