The chamber did not settle after Vaelric's words. If anything, the weight of silence only deepened, as though the very air had thickened with disbelief waiting for confirmation or denial.
Valerian's gaze remained steady, unmoved by the storm his presence always seemed to stir, as though the world's reactions were distant things that no longer had the right to reach him.
"There is no one in all Five Realms stronger than me." Valerian's voice rolled through the chamber like distant thunder. He did not even raise his voice, yet every person present heard it clearly.
The confidence in those words was not arrogance....It was fact.
The simple declaration of a man who had stood against armies, monsters, kings, and gods-touched beings and survived every encounter.
The murmurs that had filled the vault chamber moments ago immediately quieted.
Valerian's gaze swept across the gathered nobles. "And besides," he continued, his expression unreadable, "magic does not work on me."
