Chapter Twenty-One What Maren Knows
Cassian hesitated at the edge of the glowing doorway, looking back at Maren, who stood braced against the wall, her whole body trembling with the effort of holding the passage open.
"There has to be another way," he said. "We're not leaving you here to face her alone."
"There isn't time to argue, Cassian Vale," Maren said through gritted teeth. "Verity wants the truth silenced. She does not particularly want me. I have been an inconvenience to her for centuries, not a target. I will survive tonight. Go."
Behind them, the first door finally gave way entirely, and Verity stepped through the splintered opening, flanked by two of the featureless, cloaked servants, her midnight robes seeming to drink in the golden light of the room around her.
"Going somewhere?" she asked, almost pleasantly.
"Now, Lyra!" Cassian shouted, pulling her toward the second doorway.
They ran through together, and the last thing Lyra saw of the First Room was Maren, standing tall and unyielding between them and Verity, her hands still glowing with the last of her strength, and Verity's cold, appraising eyes finding Lyra's own gaze for one final moment before the doorway sealed shut behind them.
"I will find you again, little queen," Verity's voice called, faint and fading. "This is far from over."
And then, with a rush of golden light and a sensation like falling through water, Lyra and Cassian tumbled through the doorway together and landed, hard, on the familiar wooden floor of Lyra's own bedroom.
For a long moment, neither of them moved, both breathing hard, both simply grateful to feel solid, ordinary ground beneath them again.
"We made it," Lyra finally said, disbelief coloring her voice. "We're actually back."
Cassian sat up slowly, glancing toward the star-shaped door, which stood exactly as it had before — silent, closed, ordinary-looking, as though it had not just been the entrance to an entire hidden kingdom.
"Maren stayed behind," he said quietly, guilt heavy in his voice. "We left her there."
"She chose to stay," Lyra said gently, though the worry in her chest matched his. "She told us to go. We have to trust that she knew what she was doing."
"I hope you're right," Cassian murmured. "I've watched too many people pay too high a price protecting me over the centuries. I would rather it stopped being a pattern."
Lyra reached for his hand, lacing her fingers through his, the same simple gesture that had carried them through every terrifying moment of the night.
"Then let's make sure it does," she said. "Together. No more secrets, no more walls. Whatever comes next — Verity, the Hollow Court, whatever this remade bargain actually changes — we face it as a team. Truly, this time."
Cassian looked at her for a long moment, something soft and grateful moving across his tired face.
"Together," he agreed.