Aria's POVMy room felt smaller than usual, like the walls had decided to close in while I was gone. I shut the door behind me and immediately slumped against it, letting out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.Tactical retreat, my ass. This was a full-blown escape from reality.I pulled the crumpled letter from my pocket and stared at it for the hundredth time. The words hadn't changed, unfortunately. Still the same threatening message, still the same jagged handwriting that looked like someone had written it during an earthquake."Say a word about last night's fight, and you'll be exposed."Well, congratulations, mysterious letter-writer. Mission accomplished. I hadn't said a word, and I was still paranoid enough to jump at shadows.I flopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. The cracks in the stone looked like a map of somewhere I didn't want to visit. My brain kept replaying Lander's words: "Funny how some people always seem to be in the right place at the right time.
Aria's POVWalking back to the dorms felt like trudging through quicksand. Every step reminded me that while everyone else was celebrating justice served, I was stuck wondering if I'd just watched a magic show where the real trick was still hidden up someone's sleeve.The other heirs chatted excitedly around me, their voices bouncing off the stone walls like ping-pong balls. "Finally caught those idiots," someone said. "About time," another agreed. They sounded so relieved, so satisfied, like the Academy had just solved world hunger instead of catching a few troublemakers.Meanwhile, my brain was doing backflips trying to figure out if the people who got punished today were the same ones who'd been sending me love letters signed "Your Friendly Neighborhood Blackmailer."Spoiler alert: I didn't think they were.The math didn't add up. The first intruders—the ones who knew my secret—had been too careful, too precise. They hadn't left magic traces everywhere like amateur hour. They'd sli
Ari’s POVThe summons to the Headmaster’s hall was unpleasantly formal, the kind that makes your stomach crawl and your brain scream “Oh no, trouble is imminent.” Caspian followed me, silent as ever, the quiet sort of quiet that could either mean he was planning something or judging me silently—sometimes both.The hall itself smelled faintly of old stone and incense, the sun slanting through the windows so bright it could have burned your retinas if you weren’t careful. The Headmaster didn’t bother with small talk. He had a way of silencing a room just by being present, which was a skill I simultaneously envied and hated.“All heirs,” he began, voice low but commanding, “we have identified students performing unauthorized magic within the Academy. This behavior violates the rules and cannot be tolerated. Those responsible will face immediate consequences.”I felt a spike of tension. Unauthorized magic? My mind immediately flashed to the intruders from the training ground. The fight,
Ari’s POVThe afternoon dragged its feet like it owed me money. I slumped against the cold stone wall of the hallway, trying to make my legs believe they weren’t made of lead. The trial, the accidental kiss, Caspian’s mysterious teleporting, and, of course, the hairpin… my brain refused to stop replaying every single piece of chaos like some sadistic projector.I tried to eat breakfast. I had tried to act normal. I had even, very earnestly, attempted to ignore Caspian altogether. But that was like trying not to breathe—utterly impossible. The way he looked at me across the dining hall, quiet, unreadable, almost waiting… it drove me up the wall. And now, he wasn’t even in the hallway. Gone. Probably doing something unnervingly responsible. I didn’t trust that.I fingered the hairpin hidden in my pocket, the Stormborne crest glinting faintly in the sunlight spilling through the windows. A gift, apparently, from Caspian to someone named Riven. Or maybe not. Maybe the whole thing was a
Caspian’s POVThe afternoon sun slanted through the Academy’s tall windows, sharp and almost accusatory, as if it knew exactly how terrible my life choices had been up to this point. I should’ve been enjoying the calm after the chaos of last night’s trial, basking in the sweet relief of wards stabilized and students alive. Instead, my thoughts had latched onto one thing and one thing only: the hairpin.That blasted hairpin.I remembered clearly giving it to Riven as a gift last month, a token of appreciation for being competent, loyal, and not completely insufferable. Stormborne House prized loyalty above all else, and I had thought, in my infinite wisdom, that Riven deserved a little recognition. I never imagined that this tiny piece of metal could end up causing chaos for Ari—or worse, raising suspicions about me.Now, every time I thought about it, my stomach twisted. I had to confront Riven before this snowballed into something catastrophic. Ari already had suspicions. Ari’s suspi
Ari’s POVMorning came with all the subtlety of a trebuchet to the forehead. My head throbbed in a way that made me question every life choice that had ever led me to this cursed Academy. The sky was pale and yawning, streaked with orange, but I couldn’t summon the energy to appreciate it. Caspian’s bed was empty, which immediately set off a series of catastrophic scenarios in my mind.Did he run off with the intruders while I was sleeping? Probably not, that would be insane. Did he just leave me here like a common dorm plebe to get breakfast? Very likely. Either way, rude.I reached over and checked under my pillow where the Stormborne hairpin had been hiding. Still there. Secure. My lifeline, my only evidence that something bigger was going on. I carefully tucked it deeper into the folds of my sleeve, just in case the notorious Stormborne charm police decided to inspect dorms at random.Dragging myself out of bed was a slow-motion affair. My legs protested like they had been forged