Sylvia’s POV
The silence after Lucian's words still clung to me after we left the library. My pulse hadn’t slowed since he pulled that book from the shelf and forced the truth into the light. I hated that he knew now, hated how he hadn’t laughed or mocked me. Somehow, his calm certainty stung all the more.
We stopped in a corridor washed in gray light. His expression was carved from stone; it was the kind of face meant to command armies, not talk to girls who didn’t belong.
“It’s unacceptable,” he said, breaking through the silence that consumed us. “Sera failed you. Your mother should have—”
“Don’t you dare,” I interrupted. The words were out before I could stop them. My cheeks flared. “You don’t get to speak about her like that. She did what she could with what she had. She gave m
