The sky didn't break.
It listened.
The Veil above Valeris pulsed once, a slow, thunderous heartbeat that rolled across the heavens like something vast turning in its sleep. Silver lightning crawled along its torn edges, illuminating the courtyard in jagged flashes that painted everything in stark, unreal clarity.
Aria stood at the center of it all.
Still.
Unmoving.
Unavoidable.
The silver beneath her feet spread wider, no longer wild or burning, but deliberate. Each glowing vein of light traced outward across the shattered marble like roots finding their place in the earth.
Not destruction.
Recognition.
The world was learning her name.
Damien didn't move.
He couldn't.
For the first time since he had met her, since he had chosen her over crowns and kingdoms and bloodlines, he didn't know whether stepping closer would save her… or lose her forever.
"Aria," he said quietly.
Her name felt fragile in the open air.
