The chamber didn’t shatter all at once.
It failed in pieces.
Hairline fractures spiderwebbed through the ancient stone, spreading outward from the symbols beneath my feet. Dust sifted down from the ceiling like ash as the red glow Seris had summoned flickered violently—fighting against something older, quieter, and far less forgiving.
The law itself was rejecting her.
Seris stared at the floor in disbelief. “That’s not possible,” she whispered.
“It is,” the seer said hoarsely. “You invoked restraint without consent.”
Ronan stepped forward now, voice carrying cleanly through the chaos. “You tried to bind someone the world no longer recognizes as subject.”
The Council erupted.
“This is madness!”
“We’ll lose everything!”
“She’s unmaking us!”
I stayed still at the center of it all,
