The bond in Rafael's nape flared.
The comm slid out of Rafael's hand before he even really understood he'd let it go.
A shadow had simply materialized into the room.
Ether flooded the air, as if reality had bowed to make space for something too heavy to stand neatly within it. The mansion's wards reacted instantly, shuddering, tightening, and then kneeling into obedience. Lamps flickered. Pressure shifted. The air tasted like ozone.
Rafael blinked.
Gregoris stood in front of him.
He was dressed in the same black combat layering, armor scorched at the edges, and boots dusty with foreign earth. His breathing was quiet, but the ether burn was visible in the faint ghosting of pale veins under his skin and the rigid set of his shoulders. He must have burned half his channels raw to cut travel time like that.
He wasn't supposed to be back yet.
But he was.
Because something had pulled him here hard enough to break distance.
He hadn't teleported to the mansion but to Rafael.
