LYRA
His fingers brushed the bare skin of my wrist. I flinched before I could stop myself.
The touch was brief, almost accidental, but it sent a sharp pulse through me. Not pain. Something stranger. Something that made the broken ache in my chest stir faintly beneath the hurt.
Lucian's eyes lifted to my face at once.
He had noticed. Nothing seemed to escape him.
For one quiet moment, he said nothing. His silver gaze moved over me, cold and unreadable, then lowered to the iron cuff around my wrist.
A metallic click echoed through the room.
One chain loosened and fell away from my right hand, the heavy links dropping to the floor with a dull clang.
Relief rushed through my arm so suddenly it almost hurt.
But the chains around my left wrist and ankles remained firmly locked.
Not freedom.
Just enough movement to remind me how little I had.
Lucian straightened slowly.
"The Elders believe you're dead," he said flatly.
I stared at him.
