LYRA

We moved through the castle like ghosts, using servant passages and hidden routes that Kael knew from childhood explorations. The walls here were plain stone without decoration, narrow enough that we had to move single file through darkness broken only by the small light crystal Kael carried. My heart hammered against my ribs while I counted footsteps behind me, Mira then Sera then Kaelina, all of us silent except for breathing that echoed too loud in the confined space.

Sera scouted ...