Perfect. Continuing directly from the end of Chapter 24, here is your Chapter 25, written with:
Chapter 25: The One Who Made Me Feel Safe
Nyra didn't read the letter right away.
She stared at the broken wax seal — the cracked crown, the eclipse behind it — until her fingertips began to burn.
She hadn't heard that name in years.
Had buried it like a bone no one should dig up.
But here it was.
Calling her home.
She unfolded the parchment.
Lucien's handwriting hadn't changed.
Sharp. Slanted. Unapologetic.
Nyra,
I told you once: blood remembers. And now the realm remembers you.
The dagger was not meant to frighten you — it was meant to remind you. You are not theirs. You never were.
They will come at you now with chains dressed as gowns. And the man beside you… will either protect you or destroy you. There is no in-between.
But if you fall—
Fall toward me.
—L.
She folded the letter slowly.
Her hands were steady now.
But her chest?
A war zone.
Across the palace, Damon sliced open a different envelope.
Sealed with the same cracked crest.
Inside: a forged version.
Lord Damon,
Your interest in the Smith girl is noted. But be wary—she is not what she seems. She was meant for kings, not their shadows.
—L
Damon's jaw locked.
And for the first time, he wasn't sure who the game was targeting.
Nyra?
Bryant?
Or him?
Bryant found her at dusk.
Not in her chamber.
Not in the court.
But alone in the training grounds, barefoot on the cold stone floor, throwing knives into the wall like they were answers.
He didn't speak at first.
Just watched the blade slam again and again into the center post.
Then:
"Was it him?"
She didn't turn.
But her next throw missed the center.
"Was it Lucien who left the dagger?"
Nyra lowered her arm.
Still facing away.
"Yes."
Bryant stepped closer. "What does he want?"
"Maybe to protect me," she said softly. "Maybe to wake me up."
His voice turned razor-thin. "From what?"
She turned then.
Her eyes clear. Her face unreadable.
"From you."
Silence stretched between them like glass.
Then she added, quieter:
"He was the one who made me feel safe."
That shattered something inside him.
Not because he didn't expect it.
But because he did.
And somehow, hearing it broke him anyway.
She walked past him, slow and deliberate.
Stopped just beside his shoulder.
And whispered:
"If you ever want to keep me...
you'll have to stop acting like you already have."