Valentine did not return gently.
The world snapped back into existence around her like a wound being forced shut. Stone replaced light. Gravity slammed into her bones. Air rushed into her lungs so fast it burned. She dropped to one knee, fingers digging into the cold floor of the sanctuary as her body adjusted to the weight of being contained again.
The sanctuary screamed.
Not aloud. Through vibration. Through resistance. The sigils etched into the walls flared bright silver, then dimmed, then flared again as if confused by her presence. Power rippled outward from her in disciplined waves, not chaotic, but unmistakably dominant.
Eryx Caelum was already there.
He stood several paces away, one hand braced against a pillar as though the space itself had shoved him back. His expression wa
