The first hour was simple. Eryx set a light weight into the room, the kind you feel in your ears more than your bones. Nothing like the night before—no sudden hook, no spike of old fear. Just a slow lean. The outer ring tracked it with their hands, palms open, moving the press around the circle like water in a basin.
“Breathe,” Eryx said. “Don’t meet it head on. Angle. Let it pass you and stick to the shape.”
Ravyn felt the triad settle around her like a harness that fit. Cassian at her right—nervous, yes, but present. Grayson at her left—grounding without swallowing the room. The bond made a low, steady current. She matched it.
Alaric watched Cassian and then the line of chalk, then returned his hand to his father’s heart. Every time he did, the pressure in the room found a corner, tur
