The Imperial Tower did not have walls in the way Anna expected.
It had boundaries.
They rose around her in layers of translucent force, light bending and refracting until distance itself felt unreliable. The chamber they were brought into was circular and vast, its edges dissolving into shifting geometries that reminded her uncomfortably of thought made visible.
Aurelion did not imprison with stone.
It constrained with certainty.
The moment the Sentinels released them inside, the air changed—thicker, quieter, as if the city itself had leaned closer to listen.
The field sealed with a soundless pulse.
Anna turned slowly, heart racing. “This is… a holding chamber?”
Lexus’s jaw was tight. He scanned the perimeter, every line of his body alert. “Imperial custody. The Tower is where Aure
