He stayed where he was until the gold light faded from the air.
Then he stood up.
Looked at the estate.
Looked at the shattered windows on the upper floor.
And said nothing.
Mara was in the corridor outside Lilith's suite when the crack ran through the floor beneath her feet.
She put her hand flat against the wall.
And stayed still.
The gold light came under the door.....thin at the edges, then brighter, then so bright it lit the entire corridor like the sun had moved inside. She turned her face away. And kept her hand on the wall.
She felt it move through her the way she had never felt things move through her before....through years of service and watching and waiting. Things that came once in a generation. Things that rewrote the order of everything.
She had been waiting for this.
She just hadn't known it would look like this.
Then the light faded.
The crack in the floor ran from under the door to the far wall.
Mara straightened.
Smoothed her robe.
And waited.
