Chapter 12. The Slap

Aria moved through the silent academy like a ghost, propelled by a desperate, frantic energy. Her heart was a frantic drum against her ribs, and her senses were screaming in overdrive. The world felt too sharp, too immediate. She was wearing a thick, high-necked sweater—stolen from Leah’s wardrobe—pulled up to cover the angry blister and the physical, cracked-circle brand on her throat. The obsidian crest, now cool and hard, dug into the palm of her hand inside her pocket.

She knew she was cutting it close. The moment that crest had cracked, Kade would have felt it—a jarring spiritual feedback loop announcing that the stability he’d enforced had shattered. He wouldn't know the exact nature of the attacker, but he would know his shield was down, and that Aria's dangerous, unique magic was now exposed to the world.

She needed to reach Jules in the archives, the only place she could process the MINE claim and the fractured crest before Kade could hunt her down and