(Lyra’s POV)

The moment I stepped out of Cassian’s house, I felt as if the air itself was too heavy for me to breathe.

My body moved on automatic, walking down the steps, crossing the paved path, but inside me everything was chaos. My chest tightened, my throat stung, and my heart raced as though it wanted to break free from my ribs.

I had been trained for this. I reminded myself again and again. I had sat across from countless patients. I had helped people face the darkest shadows of their past. But nothing—absolutely nothing—had prepared me for today.

Because it wasn’t just Cassian’s memories that had unsettled me. It was mine.

The park he had described… the sound of laughter… the faint images that slipped through his broken recollections. They had overlapped with fragments of my own childhood memories. They were too close. Too familiar.

And for a split second, when he spoke, it felt as though the ground beneath me wasn’t steady anymore. It felt like I was standing between two timelines, my own past and his colliding in ways that terrified me.

I tried to shake the feeling away as the driver opened the car. I told myself it was coincidence. That memories can be fluid, sometimes even generic. Parks, swings, laughter—they were common. But deep down, I didn’t believe that. Deep down, something in me whispered that Cassian Veyra was far more entangled in my life than either of us understood.

As the car started, I hoped the hum of the engine would drown out my thoughts, but the silence inside me was louder. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face—the shock in his eyes when he recognized me, the unspoken question he had left hanging in the room.

Why didn’t you tell me?

“Miss Calloway?”

The chauffeur’s voice startled me. I blinked, realizing the car had stopped. He glanced at me politely through the rearview mirror. “We’re here.”

I nodded quickly, though my throat felt dry. “Thank you.”

He got out and opened the door for me. I stepped onto the pavement in front of my apartment building, the city air brushing against my skin, cool and sharp. The car pulled away quietly, leaving me standing there with my heart still unsteady.

That was when my phone rang.

For a moment, I considered ignoring it—I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. But when I glanced at the screen, my chest clenched.

Uncle Rowan.

The only family I had left.

I reached for the phone, pressing the green button. “Hello?” My voice sounded more fragile than I wanted it to.

“Lyra,” his deep, steady voice came through the line, warm with the kind of strength that had carried me through some of the darkest years of my life and grounding in a way that almost brought tears to my eyes. “It’s been too long, kiddo. How are you ?”

I swallowed hard,my throat aching with everything I wasn’t saying. “I’m fine,” I lied softly. “Just… busy with work, you know how it is.”

“Busy,” he chuckled softly. “That’s always your excuse.

I’m starting to think you’re married to that job of yours.”

I smiled faintly, though my eyes burned. He always said that. And I always told him the same thing—I would try. But somehow, I never did.

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

There was a pause, then his voice softened. “Well… you know my birthday’s coming up.”

“Of course,” I said quickly, guilt washing over me for not having thought of it earlier. “I haven’t forgotten, I promise. I’ll be there.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he said, then his tone shifted—gentle but firm, carrying the weight of something deeper. “But this year, I don’t just want you to show up, Lyra. I want you to come with someone. A partner.”

The words hit me like a stone to the chest. My grip on the phone tightened. For a moment, I couldn’t even find my voice.

“A partner?” I finally echoed, my throat dry.

“Yes.” His voice was patient, but there was no mistaking the seriousness behind it. “You’ve spent years buried in work, hiding behind the pain of the past. And I understand it—I really do. But Lyra, I don’t want to leave this world one day knowing you’re still alone, carrying everything by yourself. My birthday wish this year is simple: I want to see you with someone who makes you happy. Someone you can lean on.”

Tears pricked my eyes before I could stop them. His words weren’t harsh, but they pierced through me with a sharpness I couldn’t ignore.

I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Because how could I explain to him that I didn’t trust myself to love again? That every time I let someone close, the fear of losing them ripped me apart? That the last time I thought love was safe, I ended up shattered in the cruelest way?

“Uncle Rowan…” My voice cracked. “It’s not that easy.”

“I know it isn’t,” he said gently. “But you deserve more than the ghosts of yesterday. You deserve a future, Lyra. Promise me you’ll at least try.”

The tears slipped free now, rolling down my cheeks silently . I blinked quickly, “I… I’ll try.” The words felt hollow, but I couldn’t deny him.

“Good,” he said, his voice warm again. “That’s all I ask. And Lyra?”

“Yes?”

“I love you, kiddo.”

A sob threatened to escape, but I bit it back, pressing my lips together. “I love you too,” I whispered.

When the call ended, I sat in silence, the phone still clutched in my hand. My apartment felt too quiet, too heavy with the weight of his words and i let myself cry.

Because what Uncle Rowan didn’t know, there was already someone pulling at the edges of my heart. Someone I shouldn’t be thinking about.

Cassian Veyra.

The man whose broken memories overlapped with mine. The stranger who wasn’t supposed to matter, but somehow already did.

I buried my face in my hands, my body trembling.

Because Cassian Veyra was already inside my head.

And that terrified me more than anything.