Darius’s POV
Nobody spoke after the power settled. That was the part I couldn’t stop noticing.
The kind that only happened when people realized something had changed in front of them and they didn’t know how to respond to it yet.
Kaelira stood at the center of the chamber completely still, her breathing steady, her posture relaxed in a way that made the controlled power moments ago feel even more dangerous.
Because it hadn’t exploded. It obeyed her. That difference mattered. And everyone in the room understood it.
Elder Varyn recovered first, though I caught the hesitation before he masked it.
“You expect this council not to react to that?” he demanded.
Kaelira looked at him calmly. “Reacting isn’t the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“You’re reacting before thinking.”
The tension shift
