I hated the gift.
I took it anyway.
Astra stepped toward the east stair with LeJoi beside her.
I stepped toward the west.
For one breath, we passed close enough that the Pull crossed the space between our sleeves, heat under linen mixing with cold rain-dark and bright at the edge.
Her hand twitched.
Mine stayed curled in a fist.
The restraint did what it was supposed to do.
“Jonah,” she said softly.
I stopped.
The clerk’s pen waited.
So did Aldric.
“Yes?”
Astra looked at my sleeve.
The Mark showed through the linen. Dark. Visible. Mine.
“You’re done hiding it.”
She sounded almost sad.
The words reached the clerk.
They reached Aldric.
They reached the part of me that still heard my family’s lesson in every corridor.
Never brighten.
Never answer.
Never let the Mark rise where a room could see it.
I didn’t pull down my sleeve to hide it.
Astra saw.
Then LeJoi pulled her up the east stair before either of us could make the moment easier to use against her.
I returned to the salle.
Twenty-two students were waiting, which meant twenty-two students saw my Mark before I reached the center line.
The faculty clerk entered behind me and took his place near the wall.
I picked up the stave I had dropped.
