The silence didn’t last forever.
It softened.
Shifted.
But it didn’t disappear.
Lyra could still feel it lingering beneath everything—the weight of what had happened, of what she had lost.
And what she hadn’t fully let go of.
Kael didn’t move away.
If anything—
He stayed closer now.
Like he wasn’t going to give her space to drift back into that emptiness again.
“You’re still thinking about him,” he said quietly.
Lyra didn’t deny it this time.
“I don’t know how to stop.”
Kael’s gaze held hers. “You don’t stop. You move forward.”
Simple.
Direct.
But not easy.
Lyra exhaled softly. “It doesn’t feel like moving forward.”
“It will,” he said. “If you let it.”
A pause.
Then he stepped closer.
Not hesitant.
Not questioning.
Just sure.
Lyra felt it instantly—that shift in the
