That was the first thing he did after the bond that made me respect him against my will.
Astra didn’t leave the basin. Quill had ordered her to stay.
But she turned fully toward me.
“Hale.”
My name in her mouth reached the buried thing faster than the Tower had.
The Mark under my sleeve burned red-black.
Aldric saw it.
Everyone saw.
Including Quill. He had been waiting for it.
The realization moved through me sharp enough to almost be relief.
Article Seven was not only the door they meant to take her through.
It was the room they had built me for.
I stepped forward.
Juno’s voice cut through the hall.
“Instructor Hale.”
I stopped.
The title held me more effectively than my name would have.
The man in me wanted to cross the hall.
The instructor stayed where he was.
“Do not move unless called,” Juno said.
Quill glanced at her.
“He has been called.”
“By the Tower,” Juno said. “Not by you or the girl.”
Aldric made a sound under his breath.
It sounded oddly like approval.
The hall felt it, even if it did not understand.
Quill’s attention sharpened.
“You are walking very close to interference, Juno.”
“No,” she said. “I am making clear the jurisdiction.”
The word landed badly for him.
