POV: Lyra

I woke in the middle of the night with fire in my chest.

It was not the ache of the broken bond. That pain had faded weeks ago, leaving behind a hollow space that I had learned to live with. This was something else. Something hotter. Something alive.

I sat up in bed and pressed my hand against my sternum.

My skin was burning.

I threw off the blankets and crossed to the window and looked at my reflection in the dark glass. My eyes were silver. Not the flash I had seen before—a steady, glowing silver that filled my whole iris and spilled light onto my cheeks....