Chapter 27: Chains Do Not Decide Who Belongs to the Sky
Lyria's POV
My gaze followed hers.
I could not help it.
The moment Patricia's hands had stilled and her eyes had drifted downward, my own did the same, as though some invisible thread had tugged them there.
The chain lay where it always did.
Curled upon the floor like something alive.
It circled her ankle with a cruel familiarity, the iron darkened by rust and age, the links thick and merciless against skin that had grown too thin to defend itself. It vanished beneath the narrow bed frame, drawn tight into a bolt sunk deep into the stone.
I hated it.
I hated how ordinary and normal it had become.
I hated how the palace could allow such a thing to exist quietly beneath its polished ceilings and painted domes.
I lifted my hands.
My fingers moved before my thoughts could soften the question.
