The light above Eron did not burn him, it did not force him to kneel. It hovered inches from his raised hand and shifted in density, as if adjusting focus. The Coalition soldiers remained motionless below the ridge, their discipline replaced by fear. The official who had demanded submission kept his forehead pressed to the ground.
Kael watched from the cliff with controlled attention. He did not move recklessly, he measured patterns.“This is not an attack,” he said quietly to Seris.
“No,” she replied. “It is an evaluation.”
Eron stood without flinching as the column of light thinned into a narrow thread that traced the air around his mark. It did not bind him. It observed him. The pressure that had filled the valley earlier had changed into scrutiny.
The official below spoke without li
