The victory over Vane should have tasted like nectar, but instead, it felt like cold iron in Lucien’s lungs. As the gray ash of the final Administrator scattered into the stratospheric winds, the world didn’t settle into the peaceful silence of liberty. Instead, the silence was shattered by a rhythm so profound, so heavy, that the stones of the descending plaza vibrated in perfect, terrifying intervals.
Thump.
It wasn't a sound heard by the ears. It was felt in the bone marrow. It was the sound of a tectonic plate shifting, or a titanic heart resuming its beat after an epoch of frozen stillness.
"Lucien... look down," Seraphina whispered, her fingers digging into his shoulder for support. Her violet eyes were wide, the pupils dilated with a scholar's sheer horror.
Lucien limped toward
