Lyre’s POV

At first, I didn’t think I heard him right.

“Orion…” I gave a nervous laugh, my voice coming out a little too high. “Don’t make jokes like that.”

He didn’t say anything. For a second, I almost convinced myself I’d misheard him—that I’d imagined the words entirely.

Then he smiled. That same soft, familiar smile that always made it hard to tell if he was being serious or not.

“Of course I didn’t kill him,” he said gently, almost too gently. “Lucien ...