Lucian shakes his head faintly.
“No,” he replies, “I think it is confirmation.”
The orb pulses once more, but this time the light is not violent, and the crack does not widen further.
It holds.
The mind link continues to update in calmer tones.
“Borders are stable.”
“Territory feels normal again.”
“Power surge faded.”
Axel looks back at me, and I can see calculation moving behind his eyes now, because the fear has not vanished, it has simply changed shape.
“If you spike again,” he says quietly, “the land will spike.”
“Yes,” I answer, because there is no point denying what is now obvious.
Atticus’s grip on my hand shifts from protective to grounding, and he inhales slowly as if testing whether his own breathing alters anything.
The land does not respond to him.
It does not resp
