Chapter 21: Seraveth Witnesses Something His Empire Cannot Name

The divine-light hit the outer channel and the world became white.

Seraveth had been standing at the platform's northern edge, precisely three feet from the nearest carved line, when the charge arrived. He had positioned himself there deliberately—far enough from the circuit geometry to observe its behavior without contributing to it, close enough that retreating would look like retreat. Four centuries of court positioning had made the calculation automatic. He did not have to think about it any more than he thought about breathing, which he did not do unless the situation called for it.

What he had not positioned himself for was this.