Lyra's POV
I gripped the phone tighter, my knuckles white against the dark screen. The silence stretched between us like a chasm I wasn't sure could be bridged.
"I'm driving up there tomorrow," Cyrus's voice finally cut through the quiet. "I need to tell Alpha Kaelen everything."
His words landed wrong, jarring and out of place. Like puzzle pieces that belonged to different pictures.
"Why would you do that?" I shifted against the thin mattress, the cheap nightgown rustling beneath me.
"What do you mean why?"
"I mean exactly what I said." My voice grew sharper. "You got everything you wanted, didn't you? Daphne walks free while I rot here. Your mission was a complete success."
"Lyra, that's not how this is."
"Then explain it to me." I pressed the phone so hard against my ear it hurt. "Because from where I'm trapped, you helped orchestrate my destruction and now you want to play hero? What changed?"
The silence that followed told me everything.
