A Dangerous Taste

The room felt emptier after he left.

Not quiet—she’d lived with quiet before. But hollow. Like something had shifted, some invisible cord pulled taut, then cut clean through.

Lyra lay still for a long time, barely breathing, staring at the closed door as if it might open again. As if he might return.

But he didn’t.

And the longer she waited, the more impossible it became to bel