Liora did not move.
After the blade vanished and the silence settled, she stood exactly where she was, her hand still half-raised, her fingers slightly curled as if they still remembered the weight of something that no longer existed. The connection remained—steady, responsive, present—but it no longer felt entirely hers.
That was the part she could not ignore.
It wasn't that she had lost control.
It was that control no longer felt singular.
A faint delay lingered at the edge of every thought, subtle enough that it could be dismissed if she wasn't paying attention. A fraction of a second. A barely noticeable gap between intention and response.
But it was there.
And once noticed—
It could not be ignored.
Cairis hadn't let go of her wrist.
Not immediately.
His grip had loosened slightly after the blade disappeared, but his hand remained there, grounding, steady, as if he expected something else to happen the moment he released her.
"…Say it again."
