Hays

tgomery tapped his staff against the podium, sig

chanted salads, and steaming flagons of spiced cider. The hall filled with the clatter of silverware and

pumpkin juice, the earthy sweetness doing little t

Don't let the other Houses get to you, Holly. We might be small, and we might not win m

ile. "Peace is exactly wh

d back toward

igh with roasted meats and pastries, and he was eating with focused, methodical ded

figure, a vivid, painful memory fro

oratories and framed me for the disaster to cover Beverly's incompetence. Exiled to the Restricted Archives of the Great Library,

. I thought I was about to be e

armchair nearby-slowly stretched, yawned, an

studies," Julian had lied without blinking. "Is th

my future on a whimsical impulse simply because he de

had exhausted his entire life force to hold the southern perimeter, single-hande

e dark depths of the fo

g all the glory for "repelling the horde," while Julian's sacrifi

st. My knuckles turned white

tion. In this life, I will not only tear down Alistair and his web of

urrent, Julian's fork suddenly

l with startling accuracy, locking straight onto mine. He frowned slightly

umpkin juice, offering him a silent, respect

sion, and then went right back to chewing his ro

ear the Great Hall's entrance

ir Sterling strode back into the room-pe

s Bev

the baseline mana-density exam during the morning preliminaries; by collegiate

, her delicate shoulders trembling in a masterclass performance of fragile, wronged innocence. I co

otus, I thought, taki

r. His blatant abuse of executive privilege was so brazen, so insulting to the meritocratic tra

t Beverly's head with

I thought coldly. The higher you el