Cecilia's question sat over the cold breakfast like a weight on a scale.
"I can tell you one useful thing," I said at last. "I got a measure of her in that garden. Not a full one. Enough."
"How strong?" Cecilia leaned forward.
"Peak Radiant-rank." I watched it land on each of them. After an hour of cosmic engineering and time loops, it was strange how much heavier one plain number felt. "To be a real threat to her, I'd need to be high Radiant. At least."
Rachel's mouth thinned. "That will take time. She won't sit still and wait for you to catch up."
"She will, actually." I could still hear the certainty in Alyssara's voice, her breath against my ear. "She told me what she wants. She doesn't want to beat me now. She wants to wait until I've reached the very top of what I can become, and then break me there. Beating me today proves nothing to her. Breaking me at my peak proves everything."
"That's fucked up," Cecilia said. Crimson flickered at her fingertips and went out.
