Chapter 7 Seven

The academy gathered in the main courtyard before dawn, sorted by tail rank the way they were for every major announcement. One-Tails and Two-Tails at the back, barely awake. Six-Tails at the front for the first time this year, newly admitted, standing straighter than everyone else like they still weren't sure they'd earned the spot.

Lord Orion stood on the raised platform at the center, in full Council robes, and the courtyard went quiet the moment he raised a hand.

"Four days ago, a student of this academy was murdered." His voice carried without effort, the way it always did. "I won't pretend otherwise, and I won't ask you to pretend either. Tobin Ashe was one of you. What happened to him was real, and it was wrong, and the Council will find whoever is responsible."

Nobody moved.

"In the meantime, this academy does not stop." Orion's gaze swept the crowd, slow, deliberate. "You are here to become something. That does not change because the world outside these walls has gotten more dangerous. If anything, it matters more now than it did a week ago."

A murmur ran through the crowd, quiet, uncertain.

"Stay alert. Stay in groups after dark. Report anything unusual to your instructors, no matter how small it seems." He paused. "And in three months, this academy will hold its Ranking Season Tournament, as planned."

The murmur changed shape, something closer to surprise.

"Every tail division will compete separately. The top disciple in each division will be granted a personal mentor of their choosing, along with resources normally reserved for Council candidates." Orion let that sit for a moment. "Train. Prepare. Whatever any of you are afraid of right now, the answer isn't to stop moving forward. It's to become strong enough that fear stops being useful to whoever's out there."

He stepped back, and an instructor took the platform to read out division schedules, and the courtyard broke into motion, disciples peeling off into their groups, already talking, already speculating about who'd take the Seven-Tail division this year.

Kaien was halfway back toward the dormitories when a hand closed around his wrist.

"Come with me." Rowan didn't wait for an answer. He pulled Kaien off the main path, down a side corridor, into his own room, and shut the door hard enough that the latch clicked twice.

Then he locked it.

Kaien's whole body went still. He watched Rowan's hand drop from the lock, watched him turn around, watched him reach into the bag slung across his shoulder without a word of explanation.

Every instinct Kaien had went off at once.

Rowan's hand was already inside the bag, fingers closing around something, and Kaien didn't wait to find out what it was.

He moved fast, closing the distance in one step, and got a hand around Rowan's wrist before it cleared the bag. Rowan's eyes went wide with shock as Kaien twisted, drove a knee into the back of his leg, and took him down to the floor hard, pinning his arm behind him.

"Kaien—" Rowan's voice came out strangled against the floorboards. "What are you—"

Kaien didn't answer. He had one knee planted between Rowan's shoulder blades and the other hand locked around the wrist still buried in the bag, and every part of him was waiting for whatever Rowan had reached for to show itself.