Chapter 40 040

• "Astra," he called again, his voice soft but desperate. Her eyes, once clouded with an otherworldly intensity, slowly began to return to their normal, familiar hue. She gasped sharply, as if waking from a trance, and her trembling hands released their hold on him, the grip that had been tight with an unexplainable force.
• “I am... sorry," she whispered, her voice weak, barely audible. The words escaped her lips in a breathless apology, but before she could say more, her eyelids fluttered, and she lost consciousness, her head tilting gently to the side as her body went limp in his arms.
• "Astra! Astra!" Lysander called out again, panic rising in his chest. He shook her gently, but there was no response. She was still. Cold sweat beaded on his brow, and the weight of his worry pressed down on him, threatening to suffocate him.