Lyra's POV
"I haven't finished talking yet."
Daphne's words cut through the air before I could push past her to reach the door. I glanced up, keeping my face blank despite the bone-deep fatigue weighing down my limbs.
"Then speak," I said.
She angled her head, examining me with that calculating expression she wore when convinced she held the winning hand. "Men tend to yearn for what they pursued first. Are you aware of that?"
I remained silent. She would reach her conclusion in due time. She always managed to.
"I arrived here tonight with a strategy," she went on, moving nearer. Her fragrance was overpowering, sickeningly sweet in the confined space. "To reclaim him. Kaelen." She spoke his name as though it were her property, as if she possessed some right to it. "It shouldn't prove particularly challenging. He's merely a man, when all is said and done."
"He doesn't betray trust," I stated. "And he isn't fragile."
