Kieran had been gone for just two days but the palace already felt like it was holding its breath, the hallway was too quiet, even the guards’ boots sounded wrong; they were heavier and slower like they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. Lyra could feel it in the air, that weirdness that comes before something bad happens.

She didn’t know where he went and no one would tell her.

The first morning, she waited. She sat on the edge of her bed with her hair unbrushed, her robe ...