Sage POV
The old crystal in my hand exploded into a thousand pieces.
I jerked backward, purple sparks dancing across my fingers as the shards scattered across my workshop floor. This was the third testing crystal that had shattered when I tried to study Lily's energy signature. Whatever she'd become after that rite, it was beyond anything I'd seen in three hundred years of practicing magic.
"Sage?" Lily's words came from the examination table, worried. "Did I break something again?"
"It's not your fault," I said quickly, cleaning up the crystal pieces with a wave of my hand. They melted into glittering dust before hitting the ground. "Your energy is just... different now."
