"Strength," Orion said. "Real strength. Not borrowed from a summon. Not from family name." He held Magnus's gaze. "Mine."
The study was quiet for a moment.
"The Sovereign Core," Magnus said.
Orion went still.
Not visibly. Nothing changed in his face or posture. But internally something rearranged.
"You know," he said.
"I recognized the mana quality the day you arrived in the main hall," Magnus said. "I've seen it before." He paused. "Once. Forty years ago. A woman who stood in a summoning circle at her ceremony and produced nothing and became the most dangerous person I had ever encountered by the time she was twenty."
Forty years ago, yes forty years ago.
Orion thought about the hidden room. About writing two hundred years old. About the diagram and the book and the old bastard's very long setup, setup.
"What happened to her," he said.
