Chapter 20: Thorns, Mirrors, and a Goddess? - 2
Rein took a slow, instinctive step back.
The figure hovered several feet above the altar, suspended on a column of light that pulsed with rhythm—not magic, but reverence.
Her feet didn't touch the ground. Her silver-white hair floated around her shoulders like it had never obeyed gravity.
Her armor shimmered with gold filigree, cracked in several places as if it had been broken and put back together by faith alone.
But it wasn't the armor that chilled Rein.
It was the way she looked at him.
Like a man dying of thirst looks at rain.
"You've changed," she whispered, voice lilting like a hymn. "Smaller. Flesh-bound. But your light—your soul—unmistakable."
She floated closer. Her bare feet hovered just above the moss-covered stone. Each step whispered a chime across the cathedral floor.
Rein raised a hand, instinctively reaching for a weapon he didn't have. "You've got the wrong guy."
"You bled on my altar." She smiled with divine certainty. "Only he can wake me."