Unable to sleep before the next phase of the Grandest Game, Lyra runs until exhaustion, trying to drown out the clues and warnings circling in her mind: that there are no coincidences, that a Hawthorne did this, and that there are always three. Her run takes her to the burned ruins of the old mansion and the cliffside patio.

Grayson finds Lyra there and tells her that Odette’s information gives them a start. Lyra insists there is no “we” because Grayson has already fulfilled their deal, but Grayson says he will keep playing to the end. When Lyra asks why he cares, Grayson first points to the mystery’s connection to his family, then admits more personally that he has always cared about Lyra, even when she was only a voice calling him after her father’s death.

Lyra challenges Grayson about the day he told her to stop calling. Grayson explains that he had been hurting for reasons unrelated to Lyra and pushed Lyra away because that is how Grayson handles pain. Lyra recognizes the impulse to survive by enduring more hurt, and Grayson admits he regretted sending Lyra away and tried to find her afterward.

When Lyra accuses Grayson of not really trying, he reveals that neither Grayson, his brothers, nor Avery found Lyra for the game. Grayson says he personally delivered Savannah’s ticket after Gigi declined a direct invitation, meaning Savannah, Brady, and Odette were Avery’s chosen players. Lyra realizes she was not one of Avery’s picks after all.

Lyra remembers that her own ticket came with a note saying “YOU DESERVE THIS” and that the ink was dark blue, like the notes on the trees. This means someone else wanted Lyra in the Grandest Game and knew enough to draw her into the mystery of her father and omega. The discovery shifts the question away from Avery and toward an unknown manipulator.

Overwhelmed by Grayson’s confession and the realization that Grayson had genuinely looked for Lyra, Lyra reaches for Grayson. Grayson touches Lyra’s cheek, and instead of pulling away from the danger and history between them, Lyra kisses Grayson, replacing the memory of their earlier kiss with the intensity of this one.