---- Chapter 41 Damien POV: The world tilted on its axis. "What do you mean, gone?" Elara's voice was a sharp crack of fear. Her queenly composure shattered, replaced by the raw terror of a mother. She rushed past me to the frantic maid. "A new nanny arrived," the maid stammered, wringing her hands. "She said she was sent by the Luna. She had all the right paperwork. |... | just turned my back for a second to get a fresh blanket, and when | turned back... they were both gone!" "My mother didn't send a new nanny!" Elara cried, her face draining of all color. But | knew. The cold serpent in my gut tightened its coils. It wasn't a ghost | couldn't escape. It was a demon | had unleashed. "Lyra," | breathed, the name tasting like ash in my mouth. Elara spun on me, her eyes blazing with a fury that was more terrifying than her fear. "Lyra? A rogue? She could never get past the wards of this sanctuary! "She threatened me," | confessed, my voice shaking. "Through a Mind-Link. She said she would make me feel what she felt. ---- She said my sol "SLAP." The sound echoed in the silent room. Elara's handprint bloomed on my cheek, the sting nothing compared to the agony in her eyes. "This is your fault," she hissed, tears of rage and terror streaming down her face. "You brought this plague to my door. If anything happens to my son, Damien, | will hunt you to the ends of the earth. | swear it on the Goddess." + As if summoned by her words, the Mind-Link in my head chimed. It was a cold, triumphant signal that | knew instantly. Lyra Her voice, slick with victory, slithered into my thoughts. "Are you missing something, Damien?" | could hear a faint, distressed cry in the background of the link. My son. Kael. Elara must have seen the look on my face. She lunged forward and snatched the communication crystal I'd unconsciously pulled from my pocket, the one the old steward had given me. She pressed it to her ear, her body trembling. "Lyra?" she sobbed into the crystal. "Please. Don't hurt him. He's just a baby. Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Please, just don't hurt my son."