The pressure on the mark loosened by a fraction.
It was not mercy. It was distraction. Whatever had stepped into the field had forced the wills that were trying to finish me to look sideways. The weight on my forearm and through the bond with Elizabeth did not vanish, but it stopped pushing in a straight line toward the end.
Elizabeth felt the change at the same time I did. Her hand stayed on my shoulder, but the desperate burn of her energy eased just enough for her to draw a real breath.
"Something else is here," she said quietly.
Seraphina's eyes were already fixed on the empty air beyond the ridge.
"It is strong. Older than the ones that were feeding on you. And it is not trying to hide."
Feng Lan lifted her head. The permanent mark in her channels sat quiet now that it had been taken, but her Rebirth Eyes still caught the shift in the air.
"Greta," she said. The name came out like something she had only read in damaged records until this moment.
