It happened halfway through Lirien's speech about how love makes you weak.
One moment I was sitting there, trying to maintain the appearance of calm while she systematically dismantled every aspect of my relationship with Azryth.
The next moment, the world... shifted.
Colors became more intense, sounds grew sharper, and around Lirien, I saw something I'd never seen before.
An aura.
Not like the vague sense of supernatural presence I'd developed with spirits. This was vivid, detailed, and visible layers of energy radiating from her body in colors that hurt to look at directly.
Red and gold, primarily. Succubus colors, my brain supplied from nowhere. But underneath, threaded through the red and gold like infection through healthy tissue, were other colors. Purple so dark it was almost black, silver that seemed to writhe.
And symbols, actual infernal symbols, pulsing in the deeper layers.
Binding marks. Loyalty marks. Marks that said she belonged to someone.
Not Azryth.
