reamed at her that he was still there, somewhere, watching her. When her eyes had found him, there had been no surprise, no shock. Just a sort of silent recogniti

a

se. She had never believed in these stories of predestined bonds, of soul mates, of supernatural attractions. But this l

udden, he saw beyond her mask, her fears and her lies. She had never liked to let herself be seen through. It put her in a position of vulner

ore he could notice the way her heart was beating faster, harder. But her feet h

ice was calm, deep, with a softness that

waiting for her. She had wanted to answer, but her throat had gone dry, her words stuck in her mou

seemed foreign to her, as if it wasn't her who was spe

, of speaking, that imposed a certain gravity. A man who carri

remaining fixed on her, as if he were scrutinizi

seen deep inside her. Like he knew why she was here,

ed her arms, as if to protect herself, as if to give herself s

s, she said, a little more

, but with a look that seemed to analyze her, to probe her, to try to pierce what was hi

there are some things you can't run away from, no matter

s didn't make sense to her. She had suffered enough not to fall into those traps. She had run away from everything, left everything behind.

ny, she said in a harder voice, her gaze avoiding

ords a fragile shield he didn't want to break, not yet. When she fel

yra. The connection is the

hy now, why him? What did he know? She wasn't ready for this. Not ready for him to confront her with this reality she had

thing about me, she

ithout moving, lik

ow that what you're f

ht, or rather, he had felt. There was something between them, something that had nothing to do with logic,

ng, she said, almost

. A smile that came from a man who already knew everyth

ut you know, Lyra, things tend to b

more. He had let her go. But she knew he wasn't

in an indescribable chaos. There were too many things she didn't unders