POV: Kael

“What if saving him breaks everything else?”

The words came out raw, stripped of command, stripped of authority, they sounded nothing like a king and everything like a father who had run out of answers.

Lyra stopped what she was doing.

She did not turn right away, she just stood there with her back to me, one hand braced against the table, the other curled slightly at her side like it hurt to hold it still. The room was quiet except for Kenny’s breathing, soft and steady, too ...