Hesitation from Elias lasted two days.
Two quiet, deceptively normal days where Lyra went to rehearsals, answered emails, and even laughed at a joke Mara made without forcing it.
But Aurelian didn't relax.
Because hesitation from a mind like Elias Venn's didn't mean retreat.
It meant design.
"He's planning something," Aurelian said for the third time that morning.
Lyra sipped her tea. "You've said that for two days."
"And I've been right for two weeks."
She couldn't argue with that.
---
The call came in the afternoon.
Not from Mara.
Not from security.
From an unknown international number.
Lyra answered without thinking.
A man's voice spoke calmly.
"Is this Lyra Vale?"
"Yes."
"You've been invited to perform at the Virelli Global Arts Gala in Paris. Private event. Extremely exclusive."
Lyra blinked. "I didn't apply for anything."
"This is a direct invitation. Your recent visibility has drawn attention."
Her heart beat faster. "When?"
"Three days from now."
She froze.
Paris.
International.
Public.
She looked at Aurelian slowly.
He already understood.
She covered the phone. "This is him."
Aurelian nodded once. "Yes."
---
After she hung up, silence filled the room.
"He's moving the stage," Lyra whispered.
"Yes," Aurelian said.
"From local to global."
"Yes."
She swallowed. "He wants me somewhere new. Somewhere harder to control."
"He wants you somewhere harder to protect," Aurelian corrected.
---
Lyra sat down slowly.
"This is what he meant by 'perform well,'" she said.
Aurelian's jaw tightened. "You're not going."
She looked at him. "I have to."
"No."
"Yes."
"Lyra—"
"If I refuse, he wins," she said quietly. "If I go, I choose the terms."
Aurelian stared at her for a long moment.
"You don't understand what this invites."
"I do," she replied. "It invites him out of the shadows."
---
That evening, another message arrived.
From Elias.
You received the invitation.
Lyra didn't ask how he knew.
She typed back.
I'll be there.
Aurelian looked at her sharply. "You didn't have to respond."
"Yes, I did."
Seconds later, Elias replied.
Good. I was worried you'd disappoint me.
Lyra's fingers hovered over the screen.
Then she typed:
You're not my audience.
No reply came.
But for the first time—
She felt like she had stepped onto the same level he had been standing on all along.
---
Later that night, Aurelian stood by the window again.
Lyra watched him from the bed.
"You're angry," she said.
"Yes."
"At him?"
"At myself."
She frowned. "Why?"
"Because he's using your courage as part of his design."
Lyra sat up. "No. I'm using his design as part of mine."
Aurelian looked at her.
And for the first time since this began—
He realized something unsettling.
Elias had expected Lyra to break.
But she wasn't breaking.
She was evolving.
And that changed everything.