Ambrose stands perfectly still, his green eyes flickering with something ancient. "He's telling the truth," he says quietly. "About protecting students. About staying hidden." His voice drops lower. "I can taste it."
I stare at him.Taste it?Since when can Ambrose taste truth?
Varden's eyebrows rise slightly, echoing my confusion. "Taste it?"
"Deception has a flavor." Ambrose's smile doesn't reach his eyes. "One of the perks of being older than lying itself."
The headmaster stares at him for a long moment, reassessing the situation. "You're not just a mage, are you?"
"No," Ambrose agrees. "I'm not."
He doesn't elaborate, and Varden, wisely, doesn't push.
The silence stretches for a long moment as Varden moves to the window, his hands clasped behind his back as he looks out over the academy grounds. When he finally speaks, his voice is much quieter, almost tired.
"Phoenixes do exist," he says simply. "They always have. However, the secrets held here at Grimrose stretch far past everything else. There are creatures and essence types the Council couldn't dream of. Most of the counselors here follow Dmitri and his associates blindly, never questioning, never looking deeper." He turns to face us. "But some of us know better."
"Then why weren't you here to stop all of this before?" The words come out harsher than I intend. Years of suffering,students losing their essence, all while someone who knew the truth stood by and watched? That’s bullshit.
Varden's jaw tightens, pain flashing across his expression before settling into something weary. "Because I learned early on what happens to those who oppose Dmitri openly. Seventeen years ago, there was another staff member who shared my views. She tried to protect a student with an unclassified essence, a boy who could phase through solid matter. She went to the Council directly, trying to argue that the classifications were incomplete."
He pauses, his hands gripping the edge of his desk. "She disappeared within a week. The boy was stripped of his essence and sent to a rehabilitation facility. Neither was ever seen again."
The weight of his words settles over the room.
"After that, I understood. Direct opposition doesn't work. Dmitri has spent centuries building a system designed to eliminate threats before they become powerful enough to challenge him. The only way to survive, truly the only way to actually help, was to become invisible. To appear compliant, useless even, while quietly protecting students where I could. Burying incident reports. Losing paperwork. Assigning the most vulnerable students to counselors I trusted. There aren’t many of those counselors left, unfortunately, but the fact that most students and even staff are unaware thereisa headmaster, means I’m doing something correctly." He looks directly at me. "Why do you think you were assigned to this academy, Mr. Bardot? Do you think that was random chance?"
My blood runs cold. "Youarranged that?"
"I put in a request for a human counselor specifically. Someone outside the Magila system, someone Dmitri wouldn't immediately perceive as a threat. Most of those who had a hand in choosing you was purely coincidence or maybe they thought they were just following orders, placing you here as a test. Ididn't know you would turn out to be the Praestes. That was beyond anything I could have predicted. But I knew we needed someone who could see these students as people first, not essence types to be categorized."
"How much do youactuallyknow?" I ask, studying his face for any sign of deception.
"Not as much as I'd like," Varden admits. "I know the seven elements are a lie, a convenient framework Dmitri created to control what he couldn't understand. I know Mother Nature's gift was never meant to be contained or categorized. I know that every few decades, someone emerges who doesn't fit, and the Council destroys them before they can prove the system wrong." He looks directly at Stellan. "You are proof of that system's failure. And that makes you either the most important person in this academy, or the most endangered."
I don’t mention that most of my mates fit outside of the Magila system or that everyone down Harlow’s wing is in the same boat. Varden hasn’t been watching as closely as he says he has.
Stellan's whole body tenses beside me. "So what happens now? Do you report me to the Council? Do they send hunters to strip my essence?"
Varden moves back to his desk, sinking into his chair with a heavy sigh. "The Council has already been informed. Essence hunters will arrive in seven days to assess the situation around the same time as that meet and greet. They're coming regardless of what I report." He leans forward. "However, I can tell you what they'll be looking for, what demonstration of control would satisfy them enough to leave you alone."
Stellan starts nodding. “Anything. I’ll do anything.”
The headmaster pauses, choosing his words carefully. “It’s not that easy. They’ll be looking for control. They’ll have expected that I told you that you are nothing more than a fire elemental. They will test your control of your fire. You will have to containyour phoenix and your essence; however unlike fire elementals, phoenixes thrive on emotion.”
I frown, looking between the headmaster and Stellan before settling back on the headmaster. “You mean controlling the fire isn’t the problem, but the emotions?”
“Yes. It’s why a phoenix’s fire only burns what it intends to. However, you will need to learn to manifest your phoenix on command and understand your essence so that you can contain it. You will essentially have to learn tonotuse your phoenix and only use your fire.”
One quick look back at Stellan and I realize how difficult this task might be. For someone who only transformed for the first time last night, those requirements are nearly impossible. But I refuse to let despair take hold of us. I reach back and find Stellan's hand, squeezing it tight. "He'll do it. We’ve got this."
Varden's eyes narrow slightly. "The test is for Stellan alone, unfortunately."
Ambrose steps forward beside me. "Our essences are bonded. You can't test one without affecting the others. That's not how mate bonds work."
Varden studies us for a long moment, then nods slowly. "I won't argue that point with you. Work together if you must. But understand that whoever the council sends will not be as sympathetic as I am. They will be looking for any reason to justify intervention."
"Why are you helping us?" Harlow asks suddenly. "What do you gain from this?"
