Lyra hadn't realized how long she'd been holding her breath until the burn in her lungs forced her to exhale. Her steps echoed softly through the corridor as she walked, each one heavier than the last. The queen's harsh words still rang in her ears. Sharp, unrelenting, and impossible to forget.
It wasn't just a scolding. It was a warning.
'Leave your kindness behind. It will only make you prey in this court.'
A cruel decree, stripped of compassion. But it had been the queen's final message before dismissing her without so much as a backward glance.
Kindness. The only thing Lyra had ever known. The only thing that had kept her from drowning in the bitterness of her past.
Without it, what was she?
The hallway around her was still, almost reverent in its silence—until a voice cut through it like a blade dipped in poison.
"Did you walk away with the lesson again this time?"
Lyra froze mid-step.
Linda...
