Page 203 of The Fifth Heir

“The timing.”

“Not the kiss?”

“No.”

I released his coat.

Leander stepped back.

Frost covered the desk where his hand had rested. Beneath mine, clear light traveled through the legal text without damaging the pages.

Neither of us commented.

“The challenge hearing is tomorrow,” he said. “The council may ask whether you can reproduce Refraction without forced exposure.”

“Refraction?”

“Sebastian’s report used the term.”

“Bastian’s report.”

His expression tightened.

I opened my notebook.

“Sit down, Leander.”

He looked at me.

“We still have five books.”

The wall runes turned gold.

He returned to his chair.

Chapter 26

Sebastian

The headmaster believed us.

It was not enough.

Enough to prove sabotage. Not enough to identify the saboteur.

He examined the unused outward return channel, compared it with the blackened fragment recovered from the demonstration platform, and acknowledged that the reversal could not have occurred by accident. He ordered the Hall of Prism closed and suspended Malcolm’s authority over further testing.

Then he asked us to surrender the evidence.

“We will provide the copies,” I said.

Malcolm stood at the opposite end of the headmaster’s office. He had not spoken since our arrival, but his attention remained fixed on the warded case beneath my hand.

“The originals belong to the academy,” he said.

“They belong to an inquiry,” Leander replied. “Until one is formally convened, the heirs retain possession.”

Malcolm’s expression did not change. “You recovered academy property through theft.”