POV: Lyra

“I am not finished.”

The words came out of me raw and shaking, torn from somewhere deeper than power, deeper than fear, they were not spoken to anyone in particular, but the world heard them anyway. The ground beneath my feet trembled, not violently, but like a held breath finally released.

Kael’s arms wrapped around me the instant my knees buckled.

“Lyra,” he said sharply. “Stay with me.”

“I am,” I whispered, though my vision blurred. “I am still here.”

His grip ...