e Laws

undane borderlands, only recently recalled to the Keep after pledging fealty to the Sterling clan. Back in the preparatory halls, he

lated a hovering orb of elemental fire. But my focus was slipping. A sickening, white-hot spike of agony dril

st the desk. I thought it was just the phantom aftershock of the dissection table

eaked with a sile

unic displacement, I'll slip nig

beside my ear. But when I darted a glance sideways, the nearest student was two

absurdity of it, another vo

asant breathing the same air a

d clashing in a chaotic roar. Terrified, I clamped both hands

d not

reverberated from the center of my brain, washing over me in a f

ic vivisection in the future shattered my psyche so thoroughly

uninterrupted, and not a single student on the tiered benches was speaking. Their lip

zation dawned on me, chilling and surr

y? Mind-

of arcane discipline. But then I remembered the cruel laboratory-the alien mental cores violently grafted into my nervous sys

able confirmation that I was

hing to slow and built a mental partition, dampening the ambient noise. I picked a

is spine straight as he meticulously took notes. But the moment I

her will grant me the stipend for the Star-Iron crucible next term. Lawson w

en his noble posture and the selfish poison in his m

e shifted to the girl sitting

thoughts. What roared back was v

If I plant this cleanly, Vanessa promised to sponsor my brother's apprenticeship in t

s cold, calculating

the prefects find it hidden in her bag, no one will doubt a destitute Human stole

ry clarity. The voices were real. The mutation had survived. And my ene

brass instruments and parchment scrolls. In the corner of my eye, Megan rose, clutchi

nticipation. *Just brush past her as she stands... dr

el over my shoulder. As I stepped into the crowded aisle, Megan

softly, stumbling slightly against the m

y precision, slipping the textured, cold scale of the dragon-

in gleeful malice. *She felt

second our cloaks brushed, my own fingers had

ce sleeve, I lifted the wallet free from my bag and slid it deep

ering her a calm, courteous incline of my head

ile, her eyes darting away in gui

hought it had stolen the bait, blissfully unaware of

's subtle nod, a smirk of cruel trium

erything, beggar,* Va

racing my lips. The trap was baited, the snare was primed,