Page 99 of The Fifth Heir

“The pattern responded differently after the Trial.”

“Exactly.”

She placed her notebook on the desk beside mine and opened it to a detailed drawing of the cabinet runes.

Her lines were exact, each variation labeled in the narrow, orderly hand I had begun recognizing in the margins of the Wing’s records. Most people brought me questions. Talia brought evidence.

I moved my copied record aside.

The First Trial had been suspended. The headmaster’s review had not established why the external controls failed, and the academy runemasters insisted the mechanism suffered no permanent damage. Keeper Malcolm maintained that the fifth torc created an unpredictable overload.

He still had not explained why the Trial required Talia’s presence to open.

The sealed archive volume remained in the restricted collection. I had attempted to access it twice since the Trial. The first time, the archivist refused to release it. The second, I found Malcolm waiting beside the shelf.

The cabinets inside the Fifth Wing were the only records he did not control.

“Show me what changed,” I said.

Talia pulled the nearest lamp closer. “The outer rings loosened.”

“You touched them?”

“Not alone.”

Her tone suggested the answer referred to an earlier argument.

“Who was with you?”

“Rafe.”

“That is not reassuring.”

“He was awake.”

“Also not reassuring.”

“He didn’t touch anything.”

I looked at her.

“He complained continuously,” she added, “but he kept his hands to himself.”

The wall runes turned gold.

Talia glanced up. “They like him.”

“They reflect your response to him.”

“That remains unconfirmed.”

“It has occurred repeatedly.”

“Repeated events may share another cause.”

“You sound like me.”

Her expression became faintly horrified.