Evander looked to Liora again, searching her face. "Then I ask you… as someone who once gave life to a dying girl… will you help us?"
Liora looked between them.
Lucien. Evander. And a choice that might pull the threads of fate in ways she wasn't prepared for.
Liora's heart thudded inside her chest.
She hadn't asked for this.
She had only just begun to find her footing here amid the cold halls, the watchful eyes, and Lucien's stormy moods. And now someone from the past, a past she had buried beneath years of pain had come to unearth it.
"I…" she began but stopped when she saw Lucien's gaze sharpen.
His eyes were unreadable, but his posture screamed command. He hadn't moved, yet the air around him pressed down like a storm ready to break. "Liora, step out," he said quietly.
"But..." Evander began.
"She will not be part of your cause." Lucien's voice dropped further, darker. "Not without knowing what that cause costs."
