CHAPTER 56: A Heart Pulled in Two

CHAPTER 56: A Heart Pulled in Two

Ella’s POV

The morning sun felt wrong. It was too bright, too warm and too normal for a world where Lyra was gone.

I sat on the edge of the riverbank, knees drawn to my chest, staring at the water drifting past. The surface sparkled as if mocking me. As if nothing terrible had happened.

But my chest still felt torn open.
Alex knelt in front of me, wiping a smear of dried mud from my arm with a gentleness that broke me all over again.

“You haven’t slept,” he murmured.

I shook my head. “Every time I close my eyes… I hear her screaming.”

Alex paused. The pain in his eyes was raw, honest.

“I hear it too,” he whispered.

I swallowed hard, voice trembling.
“I should’ve held her harder. I should’ve done something.”

Alex caught my chin, lifting my gaze to his.

“No. Stop.” His voice was firm but soft.
“You saved her as much as anyone could have.”

I shook my head, tears stinging.

“She begged me to kill her, Alex. She was terrified, she…”
My voice broke.

Alex pulled me into his arms, holding me against his warm chest.
His heartbeat thudded steady, strong, grounding.

“We are going to get her back,” he said again, slower this time. “She’s not gone. She’s trapped.”

I shivered. The word trapped felt worse than gone.

After a long silence, Alex pulled back.
“Come on,” he said gently. “There’s something you need to see.”

He led me deeper into the forest until we reached a small clearing. The air smelled of pine and damp earth. Shadows stretched long and delicate across the ground.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

Alex touched the tree trunk beside us scarred with an old mark.

“This is the place Lyra used to come when she was scared,” he said quietly. “Before all… this.”

I stared at him.

“You knew her?”

He nodded.
“Not well. But enough to know she didn’t deserve any of this.” My heart clenched.

“She was always alone,” I whispered.

“Not anymore,” Alex murmured. “She has us now. Whether she knows it or not.”

A twig snapped behind us. I jumped, spinning around.

A tall woman stepped into the clearing. Silver hair fell down her back, braided with tiny stones that glowed faintly. She wore a cloak of moon-dusted fabric that shimmered like water.

Her eyes; pale violet locked onto mine with unsettling intensity.

Alex tensed immediately. “Who are you?”

The woman lifted her hand.

“I mean no harm,” she said, voice cool and melodic. “I am Astrid. Seer of the Inner Lands.”

My breath caught.

“Seer?”
The same kind that had marked Lyra?

Alex stepped protectively in front of me.
“What do you want?”

Astrid’s eyes moved past him to me.

“I came for the girl bound to the marked one.”

My pulse spiked. “Me?”

Astrid nodded once.

“You touched Lyra during the king’s awakening,” she said. “And that tethered you to her.”

“Tethered?” I whispered.
“What does that mean?”

Alex’s fingers brushed mine, steadying me.

“It means,” Astrid continued, “that whatever happens to Lyra… echoes in you.”

A cold chill slid through my body.

“So if he hurts her…” I swallowed. “I’ll feel it?”

“Not physically,” Astrid said. “Emotionally. In your dreams. In your instincts. In your fear.”

I closed my eyes.
That explains the heavy pressure in my chest since last night, the strange whispers in my ear, the distant, muffled cries I couldn’t escape.

Astrid stepped closer.

“You are her anchor,” she said. “Her last connection to who she was.”

I opened my eyes, voice barely a breath.
“Can I save her?”

Astrid tilted her head.

“Yes. But not alone.”

Alex stepped forward, jaw tight. “Then tell us what to do.”

Astrid studied him.
“You bear the light,” she said. “A rare gift. Dangerous, if uncontrolled.”

Alex stiffened.
“It protected her. It pushed him back.”

“It will do far more,” Astrid said. “But you are afraid of it.”

He didn’t deny it.

Astrid turned back to me.

“And you must be the one to reach Lyra’s mind.”

My heart lurched.
“Her mind?”

“She is trapped inside it,” Astrid said. “Fighting the king. Losing.” She paused.
“But if you enter the dream-realm tethered to her… you might awaken the part of her still resisting.”

My knees felt weak.
“If I fail?”

Astrid’s eyes softened only a little.
“Then she will become his vessel fully.” A beat.
“And you will break.”

Alex growled low under his breath. “Then she’s not doing it alone. I’m going with her.”

Astrid shook her head.

“You cannot. Only the tethered may enter.”

My stomach dropped. Me, Alone. Facing the king. Facing whatever was left of Lyra.

“But she will not go unprotected,” Astrid added. “I will guide her.”

Alex grabbed my hands, squeezing them tight.

“I don’t like this,” he said, voice rough. “I don’t want you anywhere near that monster.”

I stepped closer, pressing my forehead to his.

“Lyra saved me once,” I whispered. “I won’t abandon her.”

His hands trembled around mine.

“I’ll be right here,” he murmured. “When you wake up. I’ll be here.”

Astrid spread her cloak on the ground.
“Lay down. Both of you.”

Alex looked confused. “Why me?”

“You are her anchor,” Astrid said simply. “If she drifts too far, your presence will call her back.”

My heart fluttered painfully.

We lay down side by side. Alex’s fingers slid into mine, warm, steady, protective.

Astrid placed her glowing hands on my temples.

“You may feel fear,” she said softly. “You may feel pain. But remember one thing.”

I swallowed. “What?”

“Lyra is not gone,” Astrid whispered. “She is waiting for you.”

A bright, blinding light consumed my vision.

Alex’s grip tightened. And the world disappeared.