Inside the lecture hall, students were settling in, voices mixing in a lazy morning hum. Adrian waved them over; Liliana had saved seats. Ethan was slumped in his chair like he had been defeated in his sleep, while Dorian gave a silent nod from the row behind them.
For a moment, everything felt exactly like it used to be—just friends, just classmates, just second-years dealing with another brutal lesson.
Elara sat beside Merlin. She didn't say anything, but her proximity was different today—closer, deliberate, protective. The others definitely noticed, if Adrian's slow smirk was anything to go off of.
Merlin ignored him heroically.
The instructor, Professor Rowan, strode into the room precisely as the bells finished ringing. His steps had the clipped precision of a man who believed lateness was a moral failing. His thick white beard didn't match the rest of him—his face was younger, sharper, too intense for the grandfatherly softness the beard attempted to provide.
