“Welcome to Thread Ethics and Treaty Alignment,” he bellows. “I am Professor Marovian, and for the next few hours, you’ll be reminded why your ancestors bled, and why you’re still here to benefit from their obedience.”
My eyes roll.Great. This is going to be fun.
Two hours in, and I’ve shifted in my seat at least a dozen times—shoulders tense, fingers tapping more than Finn’s, jaw tight against the itch rising under my skin. The magic won’t settle. It crawls, sparks, presses hard against my ribs no matter how deep I shove it down.
I barely heard a word he said, not that I missed much, except just how deep this propaganda bullshit goes.
Marovian drones on, Threads, treaties, partition. Beside me, Ezzy’s pen hasn’t stopped, flying across the page like her life depends on it. Finn’s still slouched low, whittling at a scrap of wood, glancing up now and then like he’s half-listening. While Rowan just sits in his own world, jotting the occasional note—but every so often, I catch him looking at me.
Another surge builds, hot and rising, and I shift in my seat, trying to shake it off, push the magic down. Ezzy notices, her eyes flick toward me, curious. Then a loud thud cracks through the room as Marovian’s book snaps shut. We both jump.
“That is all for today.” He calls. “But make sure to review your notes and listen carefully to every lecture that follows. In second semester, you’ll be asked to submit a reflective essay on ‘Why I Serve the Citadel.’There will be no leniency for those who fail to prepare. Consider this your notice.”
With that, he steps down from the platform, robes whispering against the stone, and exits without a glance back.
Finn lets out a low whistle, stretching his legs like he’s been holding tension too long. “Any more of that, and I think my brain will bleed dry.”
“Maybe if you’d actually listened, you’d have something in there worth keeping.” Ezzy huffs, snapping her notebook shut.
“I listened. Just... selectively.”
She shakes her head, and gathers the rest of her things. Rowan rises but keeps out of what’s clearly a familiar routine, and flicks me the faintest, sympathetic look—as if to say,yeah, this is normal, just let them go at it.
But Ezzy catches it, eyes narrowing, before she turns to me.“Come on. Let’s get lunch.”
Finn is on his feet before she’s finished, stepping in close enough to give her a playful nudge with his elbow. “Taking me to lunch to make up for scolding me?”
“In your dreams.” Ezzy tries to look stern, but her cheeks flush, and the corner of her mouth betrays her with the hint of a smile.
Lunch was dry bread,stale at the edges, and broth so thin it barely tasted like meat—better than the rations back home, sure, but nothing like Bren’s mum’s cooking.
For a second, the thought of him tightened in my chest, then my mind drifted to Rhiann. Did she have enough Spice?My brows creased before I could stop them, but I shoved the pain and worry down before it showed any more.
I can’t afford soft edges, not here. Not now I need to focus. Plus my magic was still balancing on a fucking knife edge, one push, and I’d go over.
So, I ate the rest of my lunch in silence, letting Ezzy, Rowan, and Finn’s chatter blur into background noise. Names, places, I caught what I could. But all the while, my heart wouldn’t slow, pulse loud in my ears, waiting for him, Talen, the Nightrose, to show.
Every time someone walked in, a jolt snapped through me. But I kept my head down, tried to glance up without drawing attention. At one point, I spotted his friends—the dark-skinned one who’d whispered to him, and the pale girl with black hair, the one he couldn’t stop watching in the courtyard.
But no sign of him. Not yet.
When it was over, I returned my tray and slipped in behind Ezzy, keeping low as we left, hoping Talen’s friends wouldn’t notice.
“You better not have lost it.”Rowan calls to Finn, his voice echoing down the corridor as we head to the next lecture—Offensive Magic, apparently. “That dragon model cost a fortune.”
Finn doesn’t answer. Just keeps walking, shoulders a little too loose, hands shoved deep in his pockets like they might hide whatever guilt’s written across his face.
It’s just me and the two boys. Ezzy hung back, muttering something about grabbing a book from the library on Toxic Flora and Fauna... I think.
I keep walking, but I make sure to stay half a pace behind them, watching the way they move: easy, confident, sure of themselves, and it’s only now, with Ezzy gone, that the strangeness of it finally sinks in. They don’t need me. They don’t owe me.So why let me eat with them, walk with them, like I belong?
Ezzy I get—bright eyes, open heart, too naive for her own good. And she made it pretty clear she’s trying to impress Merrin, said as much herself. But these two? They’renotstupid. Guys like them don’t offer kindness without wanting something. And that’s what keeps my guard up. No one’s nice for nothing. I want to know what they want, without creating any more issues,but I don’t have time to wait and wonder. So I clear my throat and cut right to it.
“All right, why are you two letting me hang around? Because I’m not buying that it’s just kindness.”
Finn looks over his shoulder, one brow arched, joke ready, but it’s Rowan who answers first.
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing,” he says, glancing back at me, eyes narrowed, a flicker of a smile pulling at his mouth.“ButEzzy seems to like you. And I trust her. Besides, I’ve got a good read on people... And, well, you’re not what I expected, so I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
