We barely spoke on the way back to the classrooms.

  Eira walked closer to me than before.

  Elora stayed on my other side, her closed book tucked under her arm.

  No one brought up the blackened target again.

  Or my hand.

  Or the white lamp that had dropped when we passed under it.

  We just kept walking.

  As if staying silent could still stop things from becoming more real.

  When we reached the crossing of the corridors, Eira had to head back toward the younger wing. Even so, she stopped for one second too long.

  Her eyes moved to my chest.

  Then to my right hand.

  Then to my face.

  "Are you holding up?" Elora asked.

  I answered without thinking.

  "No."

  She nodded once.

  "Good. At least you've stopped lying for no reason."

  I didn't even have the strength to answer.

  My chest still felt heavy.

  Not like before.

  Less violent.

  But not normal.

  My right hand was still too heavy too. When I moved my fingers, it felt like they obeyed a second too late.

  Eira was still looking at me.

  "Will you come get me after?" she asked.

  "Yes," I said.

  This time, it wasn't to make her happy.

  I just wanted her to stop looking at me like that.

  She finally left.

  Elora and I started walking back to our room.

  The corridor felt longer than usual.

  When I reached the door, I slowed down.

  Elora noticed.

  "What?"

  "I don't want to go in."

  "I know."

  "Is it useful, knowing everything all the time?"

  "Yes."

  She pushed the door open without waiting.

  I followed her.

  The room was already full. The students were still talking quietly among themselves. A few lifted their heads when I walked in. Then their eyes slid away again.

  Not all of them.

  This time, some of them really stopped for one second too long.

  I took my seat in the back, near the column.

  Like always.

  Elora sat a little farther away, by the window.

  Master Oren came in soon after.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The room fell silent at once.

  He placed his tablet on the desk, looked over the room, then said,

  "Today, we start again from the basics. Too many of you want to push your power outside your body while you still breathe like wounded animals."

  No one laughed.

  Kian, two rows ahead, barely straightened his shoulders.

  Oren let his gaze move through the room.

  "Tablets closed. Sit straight."

  I already felt my neck tighten.

  "One breath," Oren went on. "No more. Feel your chest. Do not force anything. If you force it, you are stupid."

  A few students closed their eyes at once.

  I didn't move.

  "Vaelen," Oren said without raising his voice.

  I looked up.

  "Yes, Master?"

  "I said the whole room."

  Two students near me glanced in my direction.

  I closed my eyes too.

  One breath.

  Then another, shorter one.

  Almost at once, I felt it was a bad idea.

  No flame.

  No shock.

  Just that heaviness rising too fast.

  My chest tightened.

  My right hand went more numb than before.

  And, without me knowing how to explain it, the air around me seemed denser for one second.

  "That's enough," Oren said suddenly.

  I opened my eyes at once.

  Most of the others had done the same.

  Oren had not moved from his place.

  But his gaze had stopped toward the back of the room.

  Toward me.

  Not for long.

  Just enough.

  "Open your tablets again," he said.

  The sound of wood and paper started up again.

  To my right, the boy sitting at the next table shifted his bench slightly.

  No sound.

  No word.

  Just a small movement.

  I saw it anyway.

  My jaw tightened.

  Oren began the lesson as if nothing had happened.

  "The core can strengthen the body, or act outside the body. But in both cases, discipline comes before everything else. Power without control is not strength. It is a problem."

  He turned a page slowly.

  "And the houses that last are the ones that recognize their problems early enough not to let them grow."

  Some students wrote.

  Others pretended to.

  I wasn't writing anything anymore.

  The word stayed there.

  Problem.

  He had not looked at anyone when he said it.

  He didn't need to.

  The rest of the lesson passed slowly.

  I followed what I could.

  Not much.

  My chest got a little better, then worse again, then better again. Not enough for someone to notice right away. Enough for me to think of nothing else.

  When the bell finally rang, everyone moved at once.

  The sound of benches, tablets, and footsteps filled the room.

  I took a little longer than the others to stand.

  Elora passed by my table.

  "He looked at you," she said under her breath.

  "I know."

  "Three times."

  I turned my head toward her.

  "You count every glance?"

  "When they matter, yes."

  Then she kept walking toward the door.

  I stayed one second longer.

  Then I went out too.

  The corridor was already full of noise. Students from the other rooms were coming out too. Guards were walking farther down. Servants moved along the walls.

  I saw Eira before she called me.

  She was standing near a column, quieter than usual.

  When she saw me, she came over at once.

  "Vael."

  "What?"

  She gave a quick glance around us.

  Then at Elora.

  Then back at me.

  "Not here," she said.

  I frowned.

  "What is it now?"

  "Just come."

  Her tone was enough.

  We walked a few steps to a small space between two arches, half hidden by a large hanging cloth on the wall.

  Elora followed us without saying anything.

  Eira stopped there and pressed her fingers together before speaking.

  "I want to tell you something."

  "Okay."

  She finally looked up at me.

  There wasn't only fear in her eyes now.

  There was effort too.

  Like she was trying to say something the right way because she didn't want to say it badly.

  "I'm not scared of you," she said.

  I stayed still.

  She went on.

  "I'm scared of the thing around you."

  The corridor suddenly felt quieter.

  I looked at Eira for a second.

  Then I asked,

  "What does that mean?"

  She searched for the words.

  "In the passage, earlier... when you did that... the air wasn't the same."

  I said nothing.

  She gestured vaguely toward my chest, then my hand.

  "And even after, some of it stays."

  I felt Elora looking at me too.

  Not with surprise.

  More like she was waiting to see if Eira would explain it better than we had.

  "Stays how?" I asked.

  Eira pressed her fingers together harder.

  "As if it feels heavier near you."

  The line landed simply.

  And maybe that was why it hurt more.

  I didn't know what to say.

  So Elora spoke instead.

  "I felt it too."

  I turned toward her.

  She stayed calm.

  "Not all the time," she went on. "But after the passage, yes. And in the room too, during the breathing."

  That cut off the little air I still had left.

  Not because she spoke louder.

  Because she confirmed it.

  Eira lowered her voice a little.

  "I didn't want to say it in front of everyone."

  "Thanks," I said.

  The word came out sharper than I meant it to.

  She just nodded.

  Then footsteps approached in the corridor.

  This time, calm footsteps.

  Not the footsteps of a student.

  Not those of a guard in a hurry either.

  A man appeared at the end of the archway.

  Dareth.

  The king's right hand.

  His white-and-red uniform sat perfectly on him. One hand rested near his sword without touching it. He did not look rushed.

  He never looked rushed.

  But when he appeared somewhere, the whole place seemed to stand straighter.

  He stopped in front of us.

  His eyes moved to me.

  Then to Eira.

  Then to Elora.

  "Vaelen."

  I straightened without even realizing it.

  "Yes?"

  "Her Majesty the Queen requests your presence in the inner garden of the north pavilion."

  No one spoke for a second.

  Then Eira turned toward me at once.

  Elora did not move.

  As for me, I only felt my chest tighten a little more.

  Mother was calling for me.

  Now.

  Not tonight.

  Not tomorrow.

  Now.

  Dareth kept his eyes on me.

  "She is already waiting."

  I looked once at Eira.

  Then Elora.

  Then Dareth.

  Then the corridor ahead of me.

  And, for some reason, I had the clear feeling that the day was only just beginning.