The word lingered.
Then, slowly, the blue archway shimmered again—its light less radiant now, more melancholic, as though it mourned what it must say.
"Unless…"
A beat.
Then the decree was spoken.
"Unless one among you is willing to forsake their House. To abandon their name, their claim, their legacy. In exchange for annulment, you must cast away the very lineage that binds you. Forever."
A second silence swallowed the room—this one heavier than before.
The weight of centuries pressed down on their shoulders.
Seren's breath hitched.
Even Einar, usually unfazed, stilled.
The white archway whispered next, gentler than before. "Such a decision is not trivial. To sever oneself from a Great House is to die to it. All protection, power, inheritance—gone. You will be nameless… a rootless being in Aetherion."
Seren's gaze dropped.
Her fists clenched.
She had imagined defiance would be the end of it. That if they stood united, their refusal would be enough. But now... this?
