Freedom did not arrive like peace.
It arrived like noise.
The sanctuary filled with overlapping heartbeats, the scent of fear and adrenaline, the restless shifting of wolves who had lived their entire lives under commands that no longer existed. Some stood frozen, waiting for an order that would never come. Others bristled, eyes sharp, already measuring how much power they could seize in the absence of divine chains.
The Council recovered first.
They always did.
The Speaker stepped forward, his voice ringing with practiced authority even as uncertainty trembled beneath it. “You speak of responsibility,” he said, addressing Valentine, “but you have dismantled the only structure that kept our kind from tearing itself apart.”
Valentine did not raise her voice.
She did not need to.
“St
