The fire had burned away quietly.
Kaal stirred beside the embers, cloak wrapped tight, his breath misting faintly in the cold air. He hadn't asked again about what Lyra saw. Just watched her the way he always did now, quiet, calculating, like he was trying to solve a riddle he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to.
Lyra sat across from him, legs drawn to her chest, chin resting on her knees. Her dagger spun between her fingers, not for defense, habit, comfort, something to do while her mind crawled in circles.
She hadn't told them.
About the voice.
The words.
The way her mark had burned.
She hadn't even looked at it since.
Maybe if she ignored it long enough, it would go back to being just a stupid scar.
"I know you're not asleep," Kaal said quietly.
She didn't answer.
He shifted, just enough for the firelight to catch on his cheekbone. "I saw something too."
Lyra raised a brow. "Is this the part where you admit you're hallucinating again?"
"No." His voice was soft. "This time it was real."
She made a noncommittal noise and went back to flipping her dagger.
Kaal waited. Then added, "You saw it first."
"Did I?" she said, too flat to be casual.
"I saw the way you froze. You never freeze."
Lyra snorted. "You've known me, what, three weeks? Little early for absolutes."
"You're not subtle," he said.
"Wow. Thank you for the character profile. Next you'll say I snore."
"You do, sometimes."
She looked up. "You keep a list?"
He didn't smile. But the corner of his mouth twitched.
Silence settled again, stretching taut between them.
Finally, she said, "It spoke to me."
Kaal looked at her. Really looked.
"What did it say?"
She hesitated. That pause was just long enough to be dangerous.
Lyra exhaled through her nose. "It was cryptic. Dramatic."
"Like you."
She side eyed him with a slight frown that almost turned to a smile.
He smiled.
He was handsome, she noticed, really handsome. The shadow on one side of his face hidden from the firelight did nothing to hide it.
"Try me." he pressed.
Her eyes met his.
'I've never seen Eternity walk.'
She didn't say it out loud. Couldn't.
Instead, she shrugged. "It thought I was someone else."
Kaal blinked. "Who?"
"Doesn't matter." Her tone snapped sharper than she meant.
She stood, too fast. The dagger vanished into her coat.
"I'm going to check the perimeter."
"We're surrounded by rock," he said.
"Maybe the rocks need checking."
He didn't stop her.
But he watched her go.
She didn't go far. Just to the edge of the small overhang where they'd made camp. The sky above was blank. No stars. No wind. Like the world was waiting for something to break.
Her side itched again.
She rubbed it hard through her shirt, like that could erase whatever the thing saw in her.
Eternity walking.
What the hell did that even mean?
She wasn't some chosen girl. None of this was even about her, it was about Kaal. He was the one the entire place has being recognising since, he was the one marked with something not her. She wasn't marked for greatness or destiny or anything other than blood and disappointment.
She heard footsteps behind her and didn't turn.
"You really shouldn't follow assassins into dark corners," she said.
"I'm dying anyway," Kaal replied.
She rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth twitched.
"Besides," he added, "if you were going to kill me, I think you'd want an audience."
"True," she said. "I like a bit of applause with my murder."
They stood there in the quiet, the silence stretching like a wire between them.
After a long moment, Kaal said, "Whatever that thing was… it didn't scare you."
Lyra glanced at him. "Who says I was scared?"
He didn't answer.
She smirked. "You think I'm made of stone?"
"No," he said simply. "I think you're made of broken glass. Sharp. Dangerous. Easier to bleed on than hold."
That silenced her.
She hadn't expected poetry from him.
"I'm not fragile," she said eventually, voice low.
"I didn't say you were." He looked at her. "But you're hiding something. And I think it's not just from me."
She hated that he saw it.
Hated more that he was right.
So she did what she always did.
She laughed.
Low, humorless. "Don't go all oracle on me, Your Highness. You're not qualified."
"I didn't need a crown to know how to see people," he said.
Lyra turned to face him fully now, eyes flint-sharp. "You want honesty?"
Kaal nodded.
She stepped closer.
"I saw something that looked at me like I was supposed to be dead, or divine, or both. It spoke a name that wasn't mine and acted like I'd betrayed it just by breathing. And for half a second..." Her voice broke off.
She swallowed and huffed.
"For someone who has being so cold, you're awfully conversational."
Kaal didn't answer. He looked disappointed like he'd expected more from her.
She looked away.
"I'm tired," she said. "Don't make me think."
"I think that's why you talk so much."
She smirked again. "Careful, I'm still armed."
"I'm still glowing," he shot back.
Silence again, this time easier.
They stood side by side, not touching, but close enough to feel the weight of each other's presence.
Lyra sighed. "This whole mountain sucks."
Kaal nodded. "Agreed."
She hesitated, then added, "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For not asking about the mark."
"How'd..."
"If I didn't know that you saw my mark, I think we'll have been dead by now"
He didn't say anything and he didn't ask.
But she saw the question still burning behind his eyes.
And for once, she was grateful for his silence.