The Poisoned Key

Chapter One Hundred Five

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I didn’t sleep that night.

Not because I was afraid of what they said when they woke,I didn't care.

Not because my hands still trembled from the weight of what I’d done.

I didn’t sleep because silence had become a mirror, and every time I closed my eyes, I saw their faces: Jason’s betrayal, Kael’s anger, both twisted by hands that weren’t mine.

Very early the next day, I was already on the roof. The wind blew through my robes, sharp and clean. I watched the academy from there, students heading to drills, professors muttering over scorched stone, healers still attending to the first-years injured in the fight.

And somewhere in that chaos, Jason and Kael were fully awake and alive.

Hating me more.

I saw Jason first.

He was in the west garden, standing under the willow where we used to train. Kieran was with him. Of course he was always.

I didn’t mean to listen to what they were saying. But the wind carried their voices like it wanted me to hear.

“