(Chapter 101: Mira's POV)
The silence after the collapse was deafening—too still, too fragile, as if the world itself was holding its breath. My pulse thundered in my ears as I stood over the shattered altar, the echoes of the ancient scream still ringing in my bones.
Lorenzo's blade gleamed faintly, dripping with the remnants of broken magic. His stance was tense, predatory—ready to strike again if Callidus so much as twitched.
But he didn't.
He only smiled.
That slow, poisonous smile that made the hair on the back of my neck rise.
"You think you've won," Callidus murmured, his voice like oil seeping into the cracks of the ruined temple. His hands hung loosely at his sides, too calm for someone who had just lost everything. "Admirable. But naïve."
I clenched my fists, forcing myself to stay steady. "The ritual is broken. Erebus won't rise."
His smile widened. "For now."