Lyra's POV
The truth hit me like ice water. Everything suddenly made perfect, terrible sense. The resemblance Helena's mother had noticed. The familiar ache I felt whenever someone mentioned Hera's name. The way my dreams always seemed to circle back to her.
Calista was my mother. Hera was hers.
The woman sitting against that cold stone wall was my grandmother.
My pulse hammered in my throat as the weight of this revelation crashed over me. All those years of wondering about my family, about where I came from, and she had been here all along.
The woman lifted her head slowly, as if sensing a change in the air around her. I held my breath, wondering if she could somehow feel our presence through whatever barrier separated us. Her eyes swept across the doorway with the careful precision of someone who had learned to notice everything, to watch for threats in the shadows.
