Page 212 of The Blood Rites

Nobody speaks. Nobody dares to.

The pool of it runs down the aisle, over the feet of the Blessed, washing them in gold until they look like statues, then ghosts, then less than that.

The light touches me, and for a moment, I am not in my own body. I am the room, the aisle, the air vibrating with the echoes of this place. I see my whole life at once.

A child, small and hungry and afraid, surviving by being nothing.

Blood running down my wrists.

Marissa laughing beside me.

Saltwater crashing against a shield of light.

Curled on the floor of the Dome.

Getting back up anyway.

Nyxen smiling through fire and blood.

Then standing before a god with Kael’s hand in mine.

A hand that never let go.

The moments blur together. Not memories, but proof.

The first to move is Sera Vayne.

She steps from the front row, unveiled, the jewels decorating her face and neck sharp as blades. Her face is set in a mask of calm, but the skin around her eyes is pinched and ready to split. She bows, not a dip of the head, but a full, ceremonial kneel, forehead pressed to the floor, her many chains and trinkets rattling. One by one, the rest follow. Some fall like they’ve been felled; some go down slow, muscle by muscle, fighting it all the way. A handful remain standing, chins raised, blazing contempt beneath the veils—so pure it’s almost divine. I see you, they say. We will outlast you.

Sera rises. Her hands are empty, palms up. She opens her mouth to speak and I see the struggle—the way she reaches for doctrine and finds nothing, her tongue scraping uselessly against the inside of her teeth. There is no precedent for this, no prayer or speech. I wasn’t meant to return. And she has no plan.

She finds her voice eventually, and it rings out clear as a bell, silencing the echoes.

“Our Crown.”

The pause is measured, precise.

“Our new Crown of Light.”

She looks me dead in the eyes, pausing again. Just a fraction too long.

No one dares break the silence.

“Luceris Navin.”

She lifts her chin, the jewels at her throat glinting like fresh blood.

"Our Undying Light."