The spotlight fell.
Metal screeched against metal as the massive light fixture plummeted toward the stage. The audience gasped. Someone screamed.
Aegis moved on pure instinct.
Her hand shot up. Energy erupted from her palm, forming into a whip of pure aether that wrapped around the spotlight's frame. The weight nearly yanked her arm out of its socket. Her knees buckled. But she held on, teeth gritted, as the spotlight swung in a wide arc away from Talia.
It hung there for a heartbeat, suspended by nothing but Aegis's magic and willpower.
The entire theater went silent. Every noble, every student, every professor stared at the sight. A commoner holding a two-hundred-pound light fixture with nothing but raw magical force.
[Shit. This definitely isn't in the script.]
Aegis's arm trembled. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The spotlight creaked ominously.
Then Talia moved.
