Chapter 7
By lunch, the entire academy knows about the ring.
Not the truth. Never the truth but they know enough for whispers to follow me down every corridor.
Enough for heads to turn when I enter a room.
Enough for students to lower their voices in that obvious way people do when they want me to know I am being discussed but not respected enough to be included.
The relic cracked....During magical law... In Valentina Starling's hands.... No—Valerius Draven's hands... No—both of their hands.
That last part is the one everyone seems to enjoy most.
By the time Seren and I reach the courtyard between second and third lesson, three different versions of the story have already been born and fed.
In one, I fainted. In another, Valerius shattered the relic because he was furious to be partnered with me.
In the most insulting one, the ring broke out of pity.
"I want names," Seren says, marching beside me with her green-lined cloak snapping behind her. "Specific names. I'm not above haunting people preemptively."
"You can't haunt people while you're alive." I laugh.
"Not with that attitude." She gives me a look.
I keep my eyes forward and my hands tucked beneath my sleeves. The bond mark is quiet now, hidden beneath fabric and willpower, but I'm aware of it the way someone is aware of a bruise. Even when it doesn't hurt, I know exactly where it lives.
"It was bound to spread," I say.
Seren makes a strangled sound. "That's a very reasonable sentence for someone whose morning has been aggressively unreasonable."
"I don't want to talk about it." I admit.
"Excellent. I'll talk enough for both of us." She states.
I sigh. "Seren."
"No, because I have concerns." She lowers her voice, though her anger doesn't shrink with it. "That ring was ancient and Professor Vale dismissed the whole class like someone had bled on the law itself. That isn't normal."
"I know." I whisper.
"And Valerius Draven taking blame for something? Also not normal." She reminds me.
"I know." I give her a look that says please stop.
"And you not immediately telling me every tiny detail? Very offensive. Possibly friendship-ending."
I glance at her.
Her expression is teasing, but worry sits beneath it. Real worry. The kind she is trying to make lighter because she knows I can't carry another heavy thing right now.
My chest softens. "I don't know what happened," I say quietly.
Her face changes. "You keep saying that."
"Because it keeps being true." I say.
We step into the open courtyard. Cold air washes over my face.
Arcana Academy rises around us on all sides, black stone towers clawing into the grey sky, silver windows catching the weak afternoon light.
The courtyard fountain stands at the center, its water floating upward instead of falling down, suspended in twisting streams that shimmer blue whenever Tempest students pass too close.
Branch banners hang from the surrounding archways, heavy with morning mist.
Everything is normal. Students laugh. Books hover beside them.
A Veil girl revives a crushed leaf between her fingers.
Two Aether boys argue until sparks snap between their shoulders.
A first-year Tempest student accidentally summons a cloud over his own head and gets soaked while his friends howl with laughter.
The academy continues. That feels impossible. How can the world keep moving when mine feels like it has cracked in the middle?
Seren slows beside the fountain. "Then tell me what you do know."
I look down at my sleeve. I know Valerius's magic reached for me.
I know the bond mark burns when he is close.
I know he saw something on my skin in the training hall.
I know Professor Thorne told him to be careful about what he decides he knows.
I know Professor Vale lied for us. I know Valerius lied too and worst of all, I know that when he told me no one truly knows me, the words didn't feel like cruelty. They felt like recognition.
I swallow. "I know that I hate this," I say.
Seren watches me for a moment, then nods. "That counts."
A group of Aether students passes nearby, their red cloaks bright against the grey courtyard. One of them, a tall girl with glossy dark hair and a cruel mouth, slows when she sees me.
Mira Ardent. The girl from branch theory.
The one Professor Thorne humiliated after she asked how the Flame could stabilize a bond if only one partner had magic. Her gaze slides over me with practiced sweetness.
"Well," she says, loud enough for the students around her to hear, "if it isn't Arcana's favorite mystery."
I stop. Seren turns slowly. "Careful, Mira. You're already on my list today."
Mira ignores her. Her eyes settle on my covered wrist. "Is it true? Did you break a relic this morning?"
"No," I say.
"Strange. Everyone says you did." Mira smiles.
"Everyone says a lot of things." I don't return the smile.
Mira's smile sharpens. "Usually because you give them so much material."
The students near her laugh softly. I feel it—that old familiar heat of humiliation crawling up my neck, trying to force my eyes to the ground but something is different today.
Maybe it is exhaustion. Maybe it is the bond burning under my sleeve.
Maybe it is the memory of Valerius Draven stepping closer and telling me I should be more afraid, as if I haven't been afraid for years. Whatever it is, I don't look away.
Mira notices. Her eyes narrow. "I wonder what the Flame saw in you," she says. "It must have been desperate."
Seren steps forward, green magic flickering at her fingertips. "Say one more thing."
Mira's gaze flicks to Seren's hand, amused. "Going to wilt me, Ashwick?"
"No. I was thinking something slower." Seren takes a step closer.
"Mira." The voice cuts through the courtyard. Quiet and deep. Instantly, every student nearby stills. My body knows who it is before I turn. The bond mark warms.
Valerius Draven stands beneath the stone archway leading from the south hall, Eli at his side and Luc a few steps behind.
He looks like he has walked straight out of a nightmare designed by the academy's oldest families—black uniform, rolled sleeves, sharp jaw, dark hair.
His hazel eyes are fixed on Mira. Not on me.
Mira's face changes. "Valerius," she says, her voice softening into something meant to be pretty. "I was only talking."
He walks toward us. The courtyard seems to make room for him without being asked.
I hate that. I hate the way people shift aside, the way conversations thin, the way even the floating fountain streams seem to pause midair as he passes.
He doesn't command attention. He assumes it will kneel and it does.
He stops beside Mira, but his gaze cuts once toward me. The warmth in my wrist pulses. His jaw tightens. Then he looks back at her. "Find someone else to bore."
Mira's smile falters. A few students react with quiet shock, and I can't blame them. Valerius doesn't defend people. He doesn't step into courtyard gossip. He doesn't waste words on students beneath him unless they are in his way.
Mira recovers quickly. "I didn't realize you were so protective of your new pet."
The word protective lands strangely. Wrong and not wrong. Valerius's expression doesn't change.
"I'm protective of my time," he says. "And you're wasting it."
The insult hits cleaner than a spell. Mira goes red. Eli coughs into his fist like he is hiding a laugh. Seren looks like she has just discovered a new favorite weapon.
Mira's eyes flash. "You know, some people are saying the Flame humiliated you on purpose."
The courtyard goes silent enough to hear the fountain water hovering. Valerius tilts his head slightly. It is such a small movement. Somehow, it's terrifying. "Are they?"
Mira's bravery visibly flickers. "It's only what I heard."
"Then you should stop listening to fools. It's affecting your speech." A stunned silence. Then Eli laughs, loudly. Mira's face burns scarlet. She looks at me once, hatred shining through the embarrassment, then turns and walks away with her friends trailing after her.
The courtyard exhales. I should feel grateful but I don't.
Gratitude would be simple but what I feel is stranger and much more dangerous, because Valerius still hasn't looked fully at me, because he defended himself, not me, because he insulted her, not for kindness, but because Mira touched his pride,
because if I allow myself to think it was more than that, I will become foolish and I can't afford foolishness around him.
Seren folds her arms. "Well. That was almost helpful."
Valerius finally turns his head. His eyes meet mine. Electricity moves through the space between us—not visible, not real, but strong enough that my breath catches. The courtyard blurs at the edges. The fountain's suspended water glitters like shards of glass behind him.
"You attract trouble," he says. The words snap the spell.
My anger returns like a shield. "No," I say. "Trouble has started walking directly toward me in black clothing."
Eli makes another sound behind him. Luc's pale eyes flick between us, unreadable. Valerius steps closer. The mark beneath my sleeve warms in warning or welcome. I can't tell anymore.
"I told you to be careful," he says.
"And I told you to stop acting like you command me." I remind him.
His gaze lowers briefly to my covered wrist. "You have no idea what people are saying."
"I know exactly what they're saying. They've had years of practice." I don't break eye contact.
His face shifts. Only a flicker... Then it is gone. "Not like this." The softness of his voice unsettles me more than the cruelty would have.
I look away first because if I don't, I might ask what he means and I don't want answers from Valerius Draven. Answers from him feel like doors opening into rooms I should never enter.
Seren clears her throat sharply. "As much as I adore standing in public while everyone pretends not to stare, Val and I have class."
Valerius's eyes remain on me. "Not anymore."
I blink. "Excuse me?"
"Schedule change." He holds out a folded slip of black parchment.
I stare at it. He doesn't move. The parchment hovers between us like an insult.
I don't take it. "What is that?"
"Your new schedule." He says.
"My schedule is already set." I say.
"Not for bonded partners whose assessment causes a ward incident and a cracked relic before lunch."