Daphne's POV
The sound of the limousine engine fading into the distance was like music to my ears. I pressed my face against the cool glass of my bedroom window, watching until the black car vanished completely down the winding road. Lyra was gone. Finally, permanently gone from Willow Brook territory.
Every muscle in my body began to unwind from the tension I'd carried all day. The careful mask I'd worn, the calculated expressions, the perfectly timed tears - all of it could fall away now. In the privacy of my room, I allowed myself a genuine smile. Victory tasted sweeter than I'd imagined.
The soft scratch against my door came within moments. Predictable as always. Cyrus never had patience for subtlety or waiting. His eagerness made him so beautifully easy to control, like a puppet whose strings I'd learned to pull with expert precision.
"Come in," I called, my voice deliberately soft.
