LYRA

He walked away and I let him go, watching his silhouette disappear into the darkness beyond the garden's edge. It wasn't a clean ending or a complete goodbye, we would still see each other around the castle and at Selection events, but it was acknowledgment that what we'd had was truly over and trying to resurrect it would only cause more pain.

I stood alone in the moon garden and wondered why the Selection was still continuing at all, I had kissed Kael in the healing chambers with ...