The silence didn’t break.
It stretched.
Heavy. Sharp.
Lyra could still feel it—Daniel beside her, Kael in front of her.
Too much.
Too close.
Too real.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” she said, but the words felt weak even to her.
Kael didn’t move. His gaze stayed on her, steady but intense. “Then explain it.”
Lyra opened her mouth, then closed it again. Because she didn’t have an answer that wouldn’t make things worse.
Daniel stepped forward slightly. “You don’t get to question her like that.”
Kael’s eyes shifted to him. “And you don’t get to speak for her.”
The tension snapped tighter.
Lyra stepped between them before it could go further. “Stop. Both of you.”
They didn’t argue.
But they didn’t back down either.
“I’m not something you fight over,” she said, her voice stead
