The pressure lifted immediately.
Everyone around Neve exhaled at the same time... a collective sound that swept through the festival crowd.
People straightened slowly. Soren rolled his shoulder as he groaned. Cael rose from the half-kneel he had been fighting against and stood to full height.
Everyone looked at Neve. Then at Vaelthorn. Then at Neve again.
The low murmuring started immediately, spreading through every tribe present in the way wildfire spreads.
'How was he still standing?'
'The dragon king released his pressure for him. Did you see that?'
'Who is he?'
'I wonder who he is.'
Neve heard all of it. He was standing very still with his hands at his sides, and his face arranged into something that he hoped looked calmer than he felt because internally he was trembling.
