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"I prefer when people make their own decisions." His voice is lower.

"Then why are you here?"

He smiles faintly. "Professor Vayne said to."

I almost roll my eyes. "Convenient."

"It is."

Professor Vayne appears beside us. Neither of us noticed him approaching. He looks first at Rhyven. Then at me. "Explain."

Rhyven answers immediately. "She expected me to control her."

Professor Vayne turns toward me. "And you?"

I think carefully. "I assumed refusing to compete meant weakness."

Professor Vayne studies me for several seconds. "No." His voice is quiet enough that only we hear. "It often requires far greater strength to refuse a contest someone else is desperate to win." He lets the words settle. Then looks toward Rhyven. "And you?"

"I was curious how long she'd wait."

Professor Vayne almost smiles. "Long enough."

He walks away. Leaving us alone again. I look down at Rhyven. He looks back up at me. "So." He starts. "So." I repeat.

"Do you still think I'm an asshole?"

I consider the question. "Yes."

He nods. "Fair."

"I may need to revise why."

For the first time, he snorts. Short. Unexpected. Warm enough to change his whole face. It disappears almost immediately. But I saw it. And somehow that feels like the real victory.

Professor Vayne returns to the center of the room. "Enough." The glowing circles fade. Students step away from one another, stretching sore shoulders despite almost no one having moved. The room hums with conversation now. Confused. Curious. Interested. Exactly as Professor Vayne intended. He waits. Then raises one hand. Silence returns. "You have spent your lives believing control begins when someone obeys." He slowly shakes his head. "Control begins when someone chooses." His eyes move around the room. "If your first instinct is to force ask yourselves why. If your first instinct is to surrender ask yourselves why. If your first instinct is to manipulate...ask yourselves why." He pauses. "The answer is almost never about the other person." His gaze settles briefly on every first-year. "It is usually about you." No one writes. No one wants to interrupt the moment. Professor Vayne smiles faintly. "Good. You were listening." No one rushes for the door. Not because Professor Vayne has dismissed us. Because no one is entirely certain the lesson is over. He lets the silence settle over the Hall of Sovereignty one final time before speaking again. "Most of you assumed today's exercise was impossible." His gaze moves calmly across the room. "It wasn't. It was incomplete."

A few students exchange confused glances. Professor Vayne nods toward the glowing circles beneath our feet. "The Academy has spent years teaching to recognize strength." He pauses. "Dominion will teach you to recognize motivation." He begins walking slowly around the room again. "When someone lies, why? When someone refuses, why? When someone attacks...why?" Each question lands like a stone dropped into still water. "When someone obeys, why?" He looks directly at us. "You cannot lead people you do not understand." He stops beside one of the ancient pillars. "And you cannot understand people if you never become curious." He raises one hand. The runes beneath our feet shift again. The circles disappear. Instead, thin silver lines connect every student in the room to someone else. A web. Professor Vayne lets us study it. "This is how most leaders imagine influence." He gestures toward the glowing lines. "One person affecting another." The lines vanish. A heartbeat later— New ones appear. Far more complicated. Every student is now connected to several others. The web spreads across the entire chamber. No beginning. No end. Professor Vayne smiles. "This is closer to reality."

I follow one silver thread from Nyra. It reaches Rowan. Then Cassian. Then another student I barely know. Then three more. My own lines intersect with Caelen's. Cassian's. Nyra's. Even Rhyven's. Only briefly. One crossing among dozens.

Professor Vayne does not explain the pattern. Instead he asks— "If I alter one strand." He touches a single glowing line. The entire web trembles. Tiny ripples spread through every connection."What changes?"

"A lot," someone answers quietly.

"Everything," another says.

Professor Vayne inclines his head. "Exactly." He lets the web disappear. "Leadership is never isolated. Neither is cruelty." Silence. "Neither is kindness." The words stay with me. "One final exercise." Immediately, Rowan groans. Professor Vayne looks toward her. "You've developed remarkable consistency."

"I'm committed." Rowan answers.

"I noticed." Even he sounds amused now.

He gestures toward the students. "You have five minutes.Find someone in this room whose instinct during the first exercise differed completely from yours." Murmurs spread through the class. "Your task is simple. Discover why. No debate. No persuasion. Only questions." The room comes alive. Students scatter almost instantly. Nyra turns toward a wolf girl who had tried intimidation. Cassian approaches the siren who surrendered immediately. Selena quietly joins Aricia. I glance around. Then Rhyven is standing where I left him. Of course.

Professor Vayne notices. "Mr. Corvell." Rhyven looks over. "You haven't moved."

"I thought that was today's lesson." A few students laugh.