The truth did not arrive gently.
It landed with the force of a verdict.
Valentine Spade did not sit down. She did not stagger or reach for the pillar beside her, even though the words had split something open inside her chest. She stood where she was, shoulders straight, spine locked, breathing carefully through the pressure building behind her ribs.
“Say it again,” she said. “Slowly.”
Eryx Caelum did not soften his voice.
“You are the Sovereign Vessel,” he repeated. “The final one recorded. The convergence point where dormant authority, judgment, and balance reunite.”
Valentine let out a breath through her nose. “So all this time, I was never meant to be normal.”
“No,” Eryx said. “You were meant to survive long enough to awaken.”
Her jaw tightened. “And Luther.”
Eryx did not dodg
