Chapter 18
By morning, the council has already decided.
I know before anyone tells me. I feel it in the academy.
Something has changed. The halls don't whisper the way they usually do, careless and cruel and hungry for gossip.
This morning, the whispers are sharper. Quieter.
Moving ahead of us like warning smoke. Students stop talking when Valerius and I pass.
Professors look away too quickly. The portraits pretend to sleep.
Even the branch flames in the corridor burn lower than usual, blue and green and red bowing toward the walls as if the academy itself doesn't want to watch what comes next.
Valerius walks beside me, his hand in mine.
He hasn't let go since we left my room. Not when Seren met us outside the east tower with worry carved into every line of her face.
Not when Eli appeared at the stairwell and lost every ounce of his usual humor the second he saw Valerius's expression.
Not when Luc stepped from the shadows near the west arch and said, very softly, "The council chambers are open."
That was when I understood. The council chambers are only opened during trials, expulsions, bloodline disputes, or emergency hearings. Today, apparently, I am one of those things. Valerius's fingers tighten around mine. His expression doesn't change, but through the bond, I feel him.
Dark. Furious. Afraid in the way he hates most, because this is not a threat he can burn without consequences. At least, not yet.
Seren walks at my other side, her green-lined cloak snapping with each step. "This is ridiculous," she says for the fourth time. "They can't just summon you without notice."
Eli, behind her, says, "They can."
She turns on him. "Not helping."
"I'm not defending it. I'm saying council law is unfortunately allergic to basic decency." Eli defends himself.
Luc walks silently at Valerius's other side, pale eyes forward. "This was always going to happen."
Valerius's voice is cold. "Not today."
Luc looks at him. "Especially today."
The words land heavily because yesterday, my mother told the truth. My stomach twists. "Do you think my mother told them?" I ask.
Valerius looks at me sharply. "No." Immediate. Certain. I blink at him. His jaw tightens. "She wouldn't hand you to them."
"She sealed me." I remind him.
"Exactly! To keep you alive." The words are rough, but not cruel.
I look down at our joined hands. I am still angry at my mother.
The anger lives inside me, hot and tangled, but beneath it is another truth I don't know how to hold yet.
She didn't seal me because she hated what I was.
She sealed me because someone else would have killed me for it.
That doesn't make the pain disappear. It only gives it teeth.
Valerius's thumb shifts over mine. I glance up. His gaze is on the corridor ahead, but his thought slips through the bond, low and steady.
You're with me.
My throat tightens. I answer without looking at him.
Always.
He inhales once. Then his face hardens further, as if the word gives him something to stand on.
We reach the council chambers. The doors are enormous, black iron and frosted glass, carved with the three accepted branch symbols.
Tempest. Veil. Aether. No fourth... of course not.
Two academy guards stand outside, faces expressionless.
Behind them, my mother waits. Dean Amara Vale Starling looks every inch the power Arcana kneels to, black robes, silver crest, hair braided back, face composed but her eyes find mine and there, beneath the dean, beneath the woman who sealed me, beneath every secret she kept, my mother is terrified.
My father stands beside her. Alaric Starling doesn't look terrified. He looks furious, not at the council doors, at Valerius's hand holding mine. The look hits the old wound before I can brace. Valerius feels it instantly. His body shifts, subtle, protective.
My father notices. His mouth tightens. "Valentina."
I don't answer, not because I can't because I choose not to.
My mother steps forward. "The council has called an emergency review of your Eternal Flame bond."
Seren makes a sound of disgust. "Emergency review? That sounds like something cowards name a kidnapping."
One guard's eyebrows lift. Eli mutters, "Accurate, though." Luc says nothing, but his eyes sharpen.
My mother's gaze flicks to Seren, then softens briefly. "Only bonded parties, guardians, academy officials, and council representatives may enter."
Seren opens her mouth. I squeeze her hand before she can get herself dragged away by guards. "I'll be okay," I say.
Her eyes fill. "Don't say that when you don't know."
The honesty nearly breaks me. I step closer and hug her hard with my free arm, refusing to release Valerius's hand with the other. "I'll come out," I whisper.
Seren clutches me tighter. "You better."
When I pull away, Eli rests a hand gently on her shoulder. For once, she doesn't threaten him.
Luc's gaze shifts to Valerius. "Do not let them provoke you."
Valerius's mouth curves without humor. "That's their plan."
"Yes." He nods.
"They'll fail." He reassures him.
Luc's expression darkens. "Make sure of it."
The doors open. Cold air spills out. Valerius moves first, but I pull slightly on his hand.
He stops immediately. I look at him. Really look.
The academy's cruelest boy. The strongest Draven.
Shadowflame heir. Fated soul. The boy who once made me feel like nothing, now standing beside me like the world will have to go through his bones to reach mine.
His eyes soften only for me. I go on my tiptoes and kiss him on the check. He grabs the back of my neck pulling me closer and rests his forehead on mine. Only for a heartbeat. He breaks the moment and gives me a nod, I nod back. Then I step forward. Together, we enter.
The council chamber is circular and terrible.
Rows of black stone seats rise around the room, filled with council observers, senior professors, and bloodline representatives.
The ceiling is made of glass, though there is no sky above it.
Only swirling silver mist. At the center of the chamber, a wide circle has been carved into the floor with three rings: blue, green, red.
Three branches. Three laws. Three places the world insists magic must fit.
I feel my Starfire stir beneath my skin, deep and quiet, as if offended. Valerius's hand tightens around mine.
I know,
He sends. I look at him sharply. He heard that, or felt it, or maybe he knows me better than either of us is ready to admit.
Magistra Voss stands at the center of the chamber, of course she does. Pearl-grey robes. Black stones at her chest. Silver hair pinned tight. A smile that has never once touched her eyes.
"Valentina Starling," she says. My name echoes. "Valerius Draven." His name echoes too. Magistra Voss folds her hands. "Thank you for coming."
Valerius's voice is flat. "You summoned us."
"Yes." Her smile sharpens. "And here you are."
My mother enters behind us with Professor Thorne.
My father follows, face severe. Professor Vale slips in quietly near Thorne, expression controlled but worried.
The doors close. The sound is final. The bond pulses.
My first instinct in my body is to step closer to Valerius, so I do. He doesn't move away.
"An emergency review has been called," Magistra Voss says, "regarding the instability of the Eternal Flame bond between Valentina Starling and Valerius Draven." Her gaze lands on our joined hands. "And the increasing signs of unhealthy dependency between the bonded pair."
A ripple moves through the chamber. My face burns.
Unhealthy dependency. Like the nights he stayed were weakness.
Like the bond calming under his touch is something shameful.
Like the reason I can stand here without falling apart is a flaw they can write into law.
Valerius's anger hits the bond so hard I nearly flinch.
Professor Thorne speaks before he can. "The bond has presented unusual stabilizing behaviors," he says. "Dependency is an imprecise and inflammatory term."
Magistra Voss turns her smile on him. "How fortunate we have professors to defend imprecision."
"Precision is rather important when deciding whether to traumatize students under the word safety." Thorne says loud and firm.
The chamber stills. My mother's mouth tightens like she wants to either thank him or strangle him. Valerius looks vaguely satisfied.
Magistra Voss's smile thins. "The council's concern is safety. Mr. Draven's Shadowflame has repeatedly manifested around Miss Starling. Wards have failed. Relics have cracked. The glasshouse produced a severe reaction. A public display occurred in the dining hall."
The kiss. My skin heats. Valerius's thumb moves once against my hand.
Voss continues, "The bond is not behaving like a temporary academic pairing. If proximity is worsening instability, then separation must be considered."
The word hits the room like a blade. Separation. My fingers tighten around Valerius's. His hand closes around mine so hard it hurts, but I need it. I need the pressure. The proof. The physical reality of him beside me.
No, no one will take you from me.
The words moves through the bond. Magistra Voss watches us. There is triumph in her eyes. She felt something. Not the words, maybe, but the flare. She knows separation hurts. That's why she wants it.
My mother steps forward. "Magistra Voss, separation without full understanding may be dangerous."
"Or it may be necessary before this attachment becomes irreversible."
Voss says. Attachment. Valerius's head lifts.
The chamber temperature drops. A few council members shift.
Magistra Voss notices, but she doesn't stop.
"Mr. Draven is already exhibiting possessive behavior," she says.
"He has interfered with questioning, interrupted council procedures, threatened students, and positioned himself as sole protector over Miss Starling."
Valerius's voice is soft. "Careful." The word travels through the room like smoke over flame.
Voss smiles. "You prove my point."