Chapter 3 #3
Instead, her expression hardened further. She straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. Her gaze never left mine. I felt a twinge of unease.
“Is that the best you can do, Lord Lukhan?” Her voice rang clear across the now-silent dining hall, her Western Isles accent somehow more pronounced. “Mock my clothes and my accent? Where I come from, we judge people by their character, not their wardrobe.”
My breath caught in my throat. No one spoke to me this way. No one. Especially not a first-year nobody! I felt the atmosphere shift subtly as several commoner students exchanged approving glances.
“At least my mother taught me good manners along with sewing,” she continued, her gaze unwavering. “Yours apparently forgot that lesson while drilling you on which fork to use.”
A ripple of surprised titters ran through the crowd.
She’s winning them over.
The two girls standing behind my foe—her younger sisters, by the looks of them—shot her admiring glances.
And that jumped-up merchant’s pup Ferraro actually smirked.
Heat crawled up my neck. For the first time in years, I felt myself at risk of losing my carefully crafted composure.
I opened my mouth, but the perfect crushing retort that usually came so easily fluttered just beyond reach. My thoughts scattered like startled birds, and panic rose in my throat. The silence stretched dangerously.
“Careful, country mouse,” Damien’s smooth voice cut through the tension.
He stepped forward, his aristocratic features arranged in an expression of amused disdain.
“That sharp tongue of yours might be tolerated in whatever fishing village you crawled from, but here there are consequences for insulting your superiors.”
Relief washed through me, though I kept my face impassive. Damien, always reliable, always watching my back.
He continued in that cultured Capitolan that made even mundane observations sound like poetry.
“Addressing your betters with such insolence isn’t merely poor manners—it’s potentially seditious.
” His smile was knife-sharp. “Commoner students have been expelled for less… especially those whose circumstances depend entirely on imperial goodwill.”
The implied threat hung in the air. Scholarships could be revoked. Dreams could be shattered.
Damien didn’t know for certain she was a scholarship student. But his calculated guess hit its mark. I watched her confidence waver ever so slightly.
“Perhaps you’ve mistaken academic opportunity for social advancement,” Damien continued, his tone almost gentle. “A common error among the rabble. Allow me to clarify: your presence here is tolerated solely for whatever modest magical talent you possess. It doesn’t make you our equal.”
I could’ve kissed him for that. The watching students shifted subtly back toward us, the natural order restoring itself. I felt my momentary weakness recede, replaced by the familiar cold control that had kept me safe all these years.
Yet something about this girl continued to unnerve me.
While her confidence had dimmed under Damien’s assault, she hadn’t cowered.
Her eyes still held that disconcerting directness, as if she could see straight through me.
I’d dealt with stubborn opponents before, but never one who’d identified my most dangerous secret within moments of meeting me.
“Is he always your attack dog, or does he occasionally form thoughts of his own?” she asked me directly, ignoring Damien completely.
I saw him stiffen.
My composure returned in a rush of icy fury. This conversation was getting out of hand. I needed to end it decisively.
I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “You’ve made two enemies in your first day at this academy. Quite the achievement.” The two younger girls backed away from me, wide-eyed. I allowed myself a small, cruel smile. “Sleep well tonight, Miss Fishwife. Tomorrow, your education truly begins.”
I signaled to Damien with a slight tilt of my head. Time to exit while I still controlled the narrative.
But as I turned away, she spoke once more.
“I’m not afraid of you, Lord Lukhan.”
Five simple, dangerous words, spoken without bravado.
I paused, not turning back, letting the silence stretch for effect.
“You should be,” I replied without looking at her.
But as Damien and I claimed our usual table, I couldn’t shake my unease.
Despite the old rumors swirling around Father’s fall from imperial grace, no one at the academy had ever challenged me so directly.
No one had ever seen through my disguise so effortlessly.
As I remembered her unwavering hazel eyes, a cold certainty settled in my gut. This girl wouldn’t be cowed by a single public humiliation.
“She’ll regret that,” Damien murmured beside me, correctly interpreting my silence. “We’ll make sure of it.”
I nodded. I had to destroy her. Turn the entire academy against her. Isolate her, demoralize her, and drive her out of here before she could spread her poison.
This wasn’t about maintaining my social position anymore. This was about my actual survival. I knew what agents from the Genealogical Inquest Office would do to me if anyone believed her and reported me to the authorities.