He looked at her, eyes sharp in the dappled moonlight. “Lyra.”
She didn’t stop. “Not now.”
He moved to block her path. “You’re really doing this.”
“I am.”
“You won’t make it far. Not with that thing on your throat.”
She tried to sidestep him. “Watch me.”
His hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. “Wait. I can help. My family has safe houses beyond the border. I can get you out before the gala starts—before the oath is completed. You’ll never get far enough without me.”
She twisted free, the knife already in her hand, blade glinting. “I don’t need your help. I don’t trust you. I don’t trust any of you.”
Adrian’s eyes flicked to the knife, then back to her face. For a moment something almost like hurt crossed his features before it smoothed into something colder. “You’re making a mistake. Let me help you. We can disappear together. My family can hide you. Theyhave influence beyond the Collegium. You wouldn’t be… wasted there.”
Wasted.The word slipped in cleanly. Almost unnoticed, but Lyra didn’t think too deeply.
Lyra held his gaze, knife steady. “Then help me.”
He nodded once, quick and decisive. “Tonight. Follow me. There’s a path the wards don’t cover. A boat is waiting at the old abandoned shipping dock.”
They ran together.
The forest closed around them, branches whipping past. Adrian moved with the confidence of someone who had planned this route many times, leading her deeper into the trees. Lyra’s cloak snagged on thorns, her breath ragged, but she kept pace. The choker at her throat felt like a noose tightening with every step.This is it,she told herself.Freedom. Adrian’s family can hide me. I can finally be free of Caelum, of the oath, of everything.
They reached a small clearing deep in the woods. The old service tunnel entrance yawned ahead like a dark maw in the hillside. Moonlight filtered through the canopy in silver shafts.
Adrian stopped and turned.
Something in his expression settled—final.
“Do you really think I’d let you walk away after what you did to Seraphine?”
The words landed cold.
Lyra didn’t step back. “What are you talking about?”
His laugh was low and bitter. “You really don’t care, do you? Or maybe the potion made you forget your empathy. Seraphine is my sister—the one Caelum destroyed in that cafeteria. The one lying in the infirmary with half her memories gone because of you. I haven’t heard her voice in what feels like years. She had dreams. She was going to do great things with our family name. And you let him turnyou into his weapon.”
Lyra’s stomach twisted. “I didn’t—”
“You did,” he cut in, voice hardening. “And now you’re going to fix it. I have a buyer for you, Lyra. Maximus Durian. He’s been watching the gala preparations closely. He’ll pay handsomely for an unclassified anomaly like you—powerful, unstable, already broken in by the great Dominus Thorne. I hand you over, I get the gold, and I get back into my family’s good graces after Caelum ruined my reputation. I liked you for a bit, you know. Genuinely. But not enough to forgive what he did to my sister. You’re a convenient solution. Win-win.”
Lyra’s grip tightened on the knife. “You tricked me.”
Adrian smiled, cold and sharp. “I helped you get this far. Now you’re going to help me.”
He moved—too fast. His hand came up, a small glass syringe flashing in the moonlight.Shadowveil Paralytic.Clear. Deadly.
Lyra twisted, slashing wildly, but Adrian was already lunging.
The fight exploded.
Adrian’s Veilcraft flared first—the air fracturing into sharp shifting afterimages, three versions of him lunging at once. Lyra slashed at the nearest one; the blade cut through empty air as the illusion dissolved into sparks. She spun, cloak whipping, trying to track them all.
Then Caelum was there.
