“Alright,” she says, steering her horse closer so that I can hearher lowered voice. “Talk.”
I blink at her. “About?”
She glares. “Oh, don’t play that game with me, Mara.”
“What game?” I ask, tilting my head like the innocent little liar I am.
“You and Thane.”
I shrug. “What about me and Thane?”
She lets out a dramatic sigh. “You’re different. He’s different. Something happened last night, and if you don’t start talking, I will drag you off that horse and shake it out of you!”
I bite back a grin. “We slept together.” I pause. “Again.”
Lyra chokes on air. “You—what?!”
I wait. Watch as she sputters, her eyes going wide, her grip tightening on the reins. I hold the silence. Let her suffer. Then—
“We slept, Ly.” I smirk. “As in,actual sleep.”
She stares at me. Then she swears under her breath. “I hate you.”
“You love me.”
“Fine, but I hate that you made me think—” She groans, throwing her head back. “Just tell me what happened, damn it!”
I laugh, shaking my head—but it fades quickly. I exhale, slower this time.
Because gods, I can’t deflect forever. Not with Lyra. But I can’t tell her everything, even though I always have. I can’t tell her about Thane’s secret.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
Lyra doesn’t blink. “Try.”
I bite my lip, glancing up at Thane riding just ahead, his shoulders tense, his presence grounding. I don’t have to see his face to know he’s listening. I don’t have to look to feel him there because the bond pulls taught in my chest.
And that alone should terrify me.
But it doesn’t. Not anymore. Now it just . . . fits.
“It’s different now,” I say, softer this time.
Lyra’s expression shifts. “How?”
I swallow hard. “Because he’s not fighting it anymore—in any sense.” The bond, the feelings between us.
Lyra stays silent, giving me space to keep going. The weight of that truth settles between us. Because it’s not just him.
“And I stopped too.”
Lyra’s eyes soften because she understands. Because she knows me.
“I don’t know what this is,” I murmur. “Where it goes, how it ends. What any of it really means.” I let out a breath. “But I know I’m done pretending it doesn’t matter. Because I can’t anymore.”
Lyra watches me for a long moment. Then—her lips curl into a smirk. “So, you’re telling me you’re doomed.”
I huff out a laugh, shaking my head. “Yeah. I think I am.”
