The silence didn’t settle.
It lingered.
Heavy.
Unforgiving.
Lyra’s breathing was still uneven.
Her body hadn’t fully calmed from the surge.
But it wasn’t just the power anymore.
It was him.
Kael hadn’t moved far.
He was still there.
Close enough for her to feel it again.
That pull.
Stronger than before.
“Lyra,” he said quietly.
She looked up.
And everything else faded.
The tension.
The noise.
The world around them.
Gone.
All she could feel—
Was him.
Her heart started racing again.
Not from fear.
Not from the power.
From something else.
Something deeper.
“You need to steady your breathing,” Kael said.
But his voice had changed.
Lower.
Like he felt it too.
Lyra tried.
She really did.
But the closer he stood—
The harder it became.
“I can’t…” she whispered.
