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Chapter 27: Beneath the Weight of Ink and Intention
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2025-05-15 13:35:56
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THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 36: A Gathering of Wolves
The corridor stretched ahead of us like a frozen breath held too long. No one spoke, not immediately. We were walking—not rushed, not slow, just… moving. Each footfall softened by the thick carpet that ran the length of the hall, woven in pale silver and ash-grey, a tapestry of stars and tangled branches beneath our boots.Ingrid was the first to break the hush.Her voice arrived softly, not in volume, but in intention—low and curious, as though the idea had only just bloomed behind her eyes. “Do you think,” she murmured, tilting her head just enough to catch my profile, “if we got lost… someone might mistake us for staff still needed for the evening?”I said nothing.She continued, unbothered by my silence. “Or what if I spilled something on my cloak—nothing dramatic, just a little wax or ink or a well-timed unraveling of a hem—and had to stay behind to fix it? Surely, they wouldn’t send a girl into the snow with an undone seam.”Still, I didn’t look at her.“Ingrid,” I said finally,
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 35: “Wolf-Touched Walls and Wax Seals
A FEW HOURS LATER...Lady Halwen had assigned each of us a task—something menial, something precise, something enchanted just enough to remind us we were being tolerated, not trusted. The instructions were clear: complete everything before the guests arrived in the evening. Then return to the Academy. No lingering. No distractions. And certainly no presence at the actual event.That part, at least, suited me fine.There was comfort in the boundaries. In knowing exactly what was expected and when it would end. And as the final ribbon was tied, the last gilded tag pressed onto a velvet pouch, I felt it—the fragile illusion of safety slipping back into place.There was a moment—brief, unannounced, almost invisible—when I let myself believe the worst had passed.It arrived without drama. No fanfare. No proclamation. Just a hush in the room, a thinning of tension. A subtle shift in the air, as though something had stopped watching. The invisible knots beneath my ribs loosened, and I could
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 34: The Rules Are Older Than You
The carriage came to a gradual, reluctant stop, the wheels sighing against the snow-packed path as though they, too, were breathless with anticipation. A silence bloomed in its wake, deep and velvet-like, disturbed only by the gentle flicker of the lanterns fixed outside, their amber glow catching on the icy air.For a moment, no one moved. Inside the carriage, warmth clung stubbornly to the velvet seats, the windows clouded with our breath, the hush between us thrumming with the weight of what waited beyond. And then—“Oh,” Ingrid whispered, breath fogging the glass as she leaned forward, her voice barely a shape on the air. “We’re here.”Her gloved fingers pressed to the frosted pane, and her reflection—wide-eyed, lips parted—stared back at her with the reverence of someone seeing a holy site for the very first time.Tamsin leaned in beside her. “Is that—” She broke off with a short, stunned laugh. “It’s bigger than I imagined. No—grander.”Neither of them reached for the door just
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 33:In the House of Wolves
Ashwood's assembly room stretched wider than I remembered, impossibly vast, its vaulted ceiling disappearing into shadow, the chandelier above me swaying though there was no wind, its golden crystals catching a light that did not exist. The rows of seats—usually occupied by students, chattering, fidgeting, breathing—were filled instead with masked faces. Unmoving. Watching. Not speaking.I couldn’t move my arms. The realization arrived slow, like thick syrup sliding down the back of my neck. My wrists were bound by iron cuffs, cold and biting into my skin with each slight shift. I looked down—my skin was pale, bruised where the metal kissed bone, my hands resting limply on the arms of a high-backed chair I did not recognize. Carved wood. Blood-dark. Older than time itself.A low murmuring spread through the crowd, though no one’s lips moved. The sound was not spoken language, not exactly—it was closer to breath, or memory, or the shiver that comes before a scream. My name floated betw
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 32: All the Things I Didn’t Say
By the time I returned to the dorm, the corridors of Ashwood had begun their nightly transformation—quiet no longer meant peaceful here. It meant expectant. The lamps lining the stone walls flickered with dull amber light, their flames twitching as though something unseen had passed too close. My footsteps echoed softly in the hall, and every sound—every creak of wood, every distant slam of a door—felt like it was directed at me.I hesitated at the door to our room. My fingers hovered near the handle, and for a brief second, I considered walking past it—going somewhere else, anywhere else—but the exhaustion in my body pulled me inward like a riptide.The door creaked open. Familiar shadows stretched across the floor. Ingrid was already there.She sat cross-legged on her bed, her arms wrapped tightly around a pillow, hair half-loose like she’d been running her fingers through it in frustration. Her eyes snapped up the second I entered, wide, searching, her whole body tilting forward as
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 31: The Punishment That Blooms
The corridor swallowed the sound of my footsteps. Each one felt too loud, though I was walking as softly as I could manage, as if my very presence in this part of the Academy was something I needed to apologize for. I had rehearsed what I would say the entire way from the North Wing: quiet lines murmured beneath my breath, words crafted and recrafted in my mind like fragile glass ornaments. There must have been a mistake. I didn’t volunteer. I didn’t know my name was on the list. I can’t do it.But no matter how I twisted the phrases, no matter how humble or respectful I made them sound, they never came out quite right. Because underneath the practiced innocence, the reality still throbbed like a pulse: I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to be removed. And that alone felt like a small rebellion.Professor Madeline’s office was tucked behind a long hallway of shuttered windows, the panes clouded with the faint white breath of early spring. I reached the door and stood for a long moment,
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 30: The Ones Who Volunteer
I don’t remember standing. I only remember the sound of my chair dragging—slow and scraping—against the old stone floor as I rose to my feet with a kind of terrible clarity, like my body had moved before my thoughts caught up. Ingrid had just said something about getting in and then—“I did.”I could feel the blood drain from my face. Feel the quiet thrum of disbelief curdle into something darker. Heavier. A stormcloud slow-building behind my ribs.“You what?” I said, and the words didn’t come out loud—they came out low. Dangerous. The kind of low that felt like it should be followed by a tremor in the ground or a window shattering somewhere in the distance.Ingrid took a breath like she was about to explain herself." It wasn't my fault"“What did you say?” I asked, even though I’d heard her.She wrung her hands. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”I felt the weight in my chest begin to shift, something slow and dreadful cracking open. “You gave them my name,” I said, my voic
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 29:The Ones Who Weren’t Invited
I didn’t look away from her.Not when she dropped her gaze again. Not when her fingers fidgeted with the frayed edge of her sleeve like it was suddenly the most fascinating thing in the room. And certainly not when the silence between us began to swell like a tide—rising, stretching, about to crash. Ingrid was stalling, I could tell. I could feel it. The way she shifted her weight, the way she avoided my eyes—none of it was subtle. Not to me.I drew in a breath, long and sharp and slightly shaky around the edges.“Ingrid,” I said, and my voice came out lower than I intended. “Tell me. Now.”She looked up, startled. “Aubrey, could you not—could you not sound like you're about to strangle me with a spell?”“I’m not going to strangle you,” I snapped. “But if you don’t stop playing games, I might reconsider.”Callum gave a very awkward little cough beside me. “Okay,” he said, starting to gather his notes. “This is definitely not my scene—so I’ll just—uh—give you two some space—”Ingrid re
THE AUREUM TRIAL: BLOOD OATH Chapter 28: Where Trouble Waits
The air inside the study alcove was hushed, the kind of hush that settled into your bones when the world outside moved too quickly, and you had no choice but to find stillness or be crushed beneath it. Callum and I had been at it for over an hour now—two bent heads, one page, and a shared frustration toward the stubborn logic of ancient glyphwork. The candle beside us burned low, its flame flickering weakly against the draft seeping through the high arched window. Outside, I could hear wind dragging across the northern courtyard, but inside, there was only the sound of parchment and the soft scratch of Callum’s pen as he traced a correction in the margin.“Wait,” I murmured, leaning closer, pointing to the edge of a binding glyph. “That curl—doesn’t that change the suffix? Wouldn’t it alter the structure of the entire incantation?”Callum adjusted his glasses, eyes narrowing. “You’re right,” he said slowly. “It shifts it from passive intent to active cause. If you tried to use it as-i
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