One green.
One dark.
Then the dark ring widened.
Juno’s fingers shook on the rim.
Aldric shifted beside her.
Quill’s face changed by almost nothing.
Enough for me.
There.
The Tower had found me.
I had known it would.
Knowing did not improve the experience.
Astra looked from the basin to me.
Her Mark flared at her wrist.
Ashford trembled when he felt it through their bond. His gaze came to me an instant later.
He didn’t understand yet.
But he knew that there was something to understand, which was enough to alarm him.
Quill lifted his hand.
“Tower notice has been received.”
The hall waited.
He didn’t read it aloud.
That told me more than the notice would have.
If it had named only Astra, he would have let the room hear.
If it had named only Ashford, Lord Magnus would already be moving.
Quill’s eyes came to mine.
The rain-dark line in the basin brightened.
Students whispered this time. Faculty did too. The first rule of a room like this was that whispers were forbidden. The second was that forbidden things happened when fear outran training.
Astra pulled against Caspian’s hand.
Not away from him.
Toward me.
Ashford let her.
