Beneath the Gilded Rule
Headmistress Vire emerged like a blade wrapped in silk, and tall, silver-haired, eyes too perceptive to be kind.
“Nyx Calder,” she said. “Walk with me.”
The corridor was silent as they moved. Students didn’t pass here. Even the walls felt like they were listening.
“You understand,” Vire said, “that Briarcrest exists to refine leaders.”
Nyx kept her tone neutral. “I understand it exists to maintain power.”
Vire smiled faintly. “And yet you disrupt rather than assimilate.”
“Assimilation erases,” Nyx replied. “I don’t consent to that.”