[Celestial Academy — Administrative Wing Corridor — 10:26 AM]
The escorts still hadn't moved.
Fragment 5's field kept them still without Davan consciously deciding it — just the Fragment responding to the tension of the moment, Dominion asserting itself over what it perceived as inferior within its radius.
Alex took advantage of it.
"Listen to me." Direct voice, without manufactured urgency. "I know what you're thinking. That you have to report this. That Father Agustín needs to know."
Davan didn't answer. But he didn't move either.
"The Temple is going to hunt the bearer of Fragment 5 exactly the same way it hunts me." Alex took a step. "Not because you're a threat. Because you're a bearer. And bearers don't exist within the order the Temple built."
"I am of the Temple."
"That doesn't matter anymore."
Davan gripped the book.
"Cael wouldn't let that happen."
"Cael carried out the order for Seraph's exile." Alex looked directly at him. "How long have you been with him?"
