POV: APHRODITE
The conversation with Lyra still sits warm in my chest when Cassian and Bastien approach me later that afternoon. The males have been taking turns on watch rotation, and these two just finished their shift.
Something about the way they walk toward me makes everyone else in camp go quiet.
Draco and Lucen stop mid-conversation. Lyra pauses while organizing supplies. Even my father, who's been keeping mostly to himself since we left the ruins, looks up from sharpening his blade.
They sense what's coming before I do.
Cassian reaches me first, Bastien just behind him. For a moment they just stand there, and I see something in their eyes I've never seen before. Not the cruel amusement from my years in Nightfang. Not the wary guilt from when they first started following me.
This is different. Raw. Exposed.
Then, in perfect unison, they drop to their knees.
