The weeks following the gala were different. The "New Protocol" had evolved. It was no longer just about the thrill or the power play. There was a gravity to their relationship now, a weight that neither of them knew how to carry.
Cassian had become more than a bodyguard. He was the only person in Lyra’s life who saw her for who she actually was—not a trophy, not a diplomatic tool, but a woman who was desperately lonely in a world of gilded cages. And Lyra had become the only person who could reach the man behind the armor.
But the world they lived in didn't allow for such things.
Lyra’s father had arranged a marriage. It was a strategic alliance with the son of a powerful European minister—a man who was as cold and calculating as Cassian was disciplined.
When Lyra told him, she didn't
