Chapter 42

Lyra

Oh my God.

I said it.

I fucking said it.

And the second the word left my lips, I wanted to stuff it back in with both hands and maybe a sock.

His face didn’t move.

But everything else did.

The room. The air. The hallway. Me.

I felt it.

That shift.

“Wow,” Damon said. His voice didn’t even have teeth. It didn’t need to. Just that one word—and it gutted me. “Get out of my sight too, Lyra.”

And I panicked.

“No, wait… I can expla…”

“I said get out.”

The way he cut me off.

Like I was a stain.

Like I wasn’t just a mistake—I was a waste of his breath.

I staggered back a step, my vision burning, my throat closing like it couldn’t bear the pressure of swallowing everything I wanted to scream.

But I couldn’t leave.

I didn’t move.

Because suddenly he was walking toward me.

Fast.

His jaw was clenched. His chest rising and falling. His fists were loose at