The moment she hesitated, I knew I had already changed the outcome.
And that meant she was not as complete as she believed. I held her gaze, steady and unbroken, and for the first time, I did not feel like I was standing in front of something greater than me. I felt like I was standing in front of something that could be challenged.
“You felt that,” I said. Her expression remained controlled, but the delay before her response confirmed it. “Yes,” she replied.
The word came out accurately. The presence inside me reacted again, shifting sharply, almost defensively, as if it had recognized something it could not fully process.
“You are interfering with system flow,” she continued. “I am not interfering,” I said. “I am affecting it.”
The difference mattered, and she knew it. The air aroun
