Chapter 18 #3
"The same," Thorne says. "Separation is dangerous."
My mother joins them. "The same."
Three voices. Three authorities. Against Voss. The chamber stirs. For the first time, her certainty flickers. Not gone but interrupted.
Then my father speaks. "This bond is harming my daughter."
The words hit me harder than they should. My daughter. He says it now? Now! When council guards are ready to drag me away from the only person who makes the fire under my skin stop screaming?
I turn toward him slowly. Valerius's arm remains around me, but he doesn't stop me from looking. My father's face is drawn, his jaw tight. "You don't get to say that now," I whisper.
The chamber goes silent. His eyes flash. "Valentina."
"No." My voice shakes, but the bond steadies beneath Valerius's hand at my waist.
"You don't get to stand there and pretend this is a concern. Not after years of looking at me like I was shame wearing your name."
His face pales. My mother's eyes fill. I can't stop now.
"You didn't protect me when everyone called me powerless. You didn't defend me when they whispered that I didn't belong. You didn't ask why your daughter was hurting. You asked if I was yours!."
The words cut through the room. My father looks like I have struck him.
"Don't use me now to make yourself look like a father."
Valerius's breath changes beside me. The bond fills with something fierce pride. Mine? His? Both? My father opens his mouth. Nothing comes out.
Magistra Voss moves quickly into the silence. "Emotional distress supports containment."
"No," I say.
The word is not loud but the floor answers.
White-gold light flashes once beneath the three branch rings.
The chamber gasps. Valerius's hand grips my waist.
Professor Thorne's eyes sharpen in warning but I'm not burning out of control.
Not this time. I feel the fire. I feel the fear.
I feel the bond and for the first time, I don't feel powerless beneath them.
"I am distressed because you are trying to take away the one person who kept me standing when your test hurt me." I say looking directly at her. The white-gold light flickers again. Valerius's Shadowflame rises in answer, curling around it, hiding most of the glow from the upper seats.
My mother steps forward quickly. "What you are witnessing is precisely why separation is not an option. The bond stabilizes only in proximity."
Voss looks at the hidden light. She saw enough. I know she did but not enough to name it. Her face hardens. "Then the council will issue a monitored-proximity order."
Professor Thorne's eyes narrow. "Terms?"
"Valentina Starling and Valerius Draven may remain within stabilizing distance until further inquiry. They will be monitored by council-approved observers. Private meetings are suspended. Sleeping arrangements are to be separated unless supervised by academy authority."
My blood turns cold. No. Valerius's arm tightens. My room. The only place I slept without fear in his arms. The only place shadows didn't reach. They're taking even that. Voss smiles. She knows. She knows exactly where the knife went.
Valerius's voice is dangerously quiet. "No."
My mother says, "Magistra—"
"The alternative," Voss says, "is full containment separation."
Silence. That's how she wins. Not by proving she is right, by making the worst threat so terrible that everyone swallows the lesser cruelty.
I feel something in Valerius' fracture, devastation because he can fight guards.
He can burn vines. He can stand between me and shadows but he can't destroy this room without making everything worse for me.
He can't protect me from a law designed to make protection look like guilt.
His hand trembles at my waist. That breaks me more than the order.
I turn into him before I can stop myself.
In front of everyone, I press my face against his chest.
A murmur moves through the chamber. I don't care.
Valerius goes still for half a second. Then his arms close around me squeezing me hard.
Like if he holds tightly enough, no order can touch us. His breath is rough against my hair.
I hear the words he tries not to send but fails miserably.
I'm sorry.
I clutch him tighter and answer.
Don't be.
The bond aches, not because it is tearing now, because it knows what is coming.
Professor Thorne's voice is low and furious. "A monitored-proximity order will destabilize further if the council prevents the only conditions that have produced rest."
Voss turns to him. "Then perhaps Miss Starling should learn resilience without sharing a bed with a Draven."
The insult lands like a slap. Valerius's Shadowflame roars up the walls. The council chamber explodes into shouts.
"Enough!" my mother commands.
The flames freeze. Valerius is breathing hard. I grab his face with both hands, forcing him to look at me.
"Look at me," I whisper. His eyes are nearly black. "Look at me." Slowly, the gold returns around his pupils. His flame lowers. The chamber quiets. I keep my hands on his face. Not caring who sees. Not caring what they think. "They want this," I whisper. "They want to make you lose control."
His jaw trembles beneath my palms. "I know."
"Then stay with me." I rub my thumb on his cheek.
Pain flashes across his face. "They won't let me."
"No." My voice breaks. "Here. Stay with me here."
I press one hand to his chest, over his heart. The bond answers, warm and torn and desperate. His hand covers mine. For one second, we are back in my room. Heartbeats. Candles. Let it try but the world has tried and it has teeth.
Magistra Voss looks almost bored when she speaks again. "The order stands pending formal review. Tonight, Miss Starling will remain in the east tower under Dean Starling's ward. Mr. Draven will return to the Aether wing. Council observers will be placed outside both quarters."
No. No. No.
The word echoes inside me until it becomes pain. Valerius looks at my mother. "You cannot allow this."
My mother's face is shattered. "I can delay full containment," she says. "Not override emergency council authority in front of witnesses."
His expression turns lethal. "Then remove the witnesses."
"Valerius," I whisper. He closes his eyes. The fact that he listens hurts.
Voss lifts her chin. "The order begins at sundown."