Chapter Thirty-one: Truths(I)

The door clicked shut behind Myra.

And for a long, aching second—no one breathed.

The silence she left behind wasn’t relief. It was a chokehold. Heavy. Suffocating.

Arielle exhaled shakily, her shoulders sagging as the tension finally bled out of her spine. She hadn't even realized she’d been holding her breath from the moment Myra sat up.

But that wasn’t the Myra they knew.

It wasn’t just the gold eyes, or the voice sharp enough to freeze fire mid-burn.

It was the way the sword floated beside her—like a beast that had finally found its master.

Arielle rubbed her arms, trying to shake off the chill still clinging to her skin.

“Is it just me,” she said quietly, “or did it feel like we were talking to someone else entirely?”

“No,” Nathan answered from the corner, wincing as he checked his bleeding wound. “It wasn’t just you.”

Lisa said nothing. Her lips were pressed into a thin, bitter line.

Arielle’s gaze shifted to Madeline.