Lyra had left Yakira's room earlier that night feeling weird about what happened. She could have sworn that Yakira wanted to hurt her.

Later that night when it was very late and the wind blew hard, the palace was quiet.

Lyra was in bed, she was half-asleep, her blankets were warm but she still felt tired.

The door opened slowly and someone came in. It looked like Yakira, Lyra blinked.

“Yakira?” she whispered.

Yakira walked in carefully. She held a small cup. “I brought you a drink,the ...