The ranking board screamed without a mouth.
Not loudly.
That would have been merciful.
Words simply appeared across the crystal face above the lower hall, one line at a time, carved in red light that turned every student's breath shallow.
[PROVISIONAL CRISIS REVIEW INITIATED.]
[SUBJECT: CEDRIC VALDRAKE ARKHEN.]
[CAUSE INDEX: UNAUTHORIZED VOID-ADJACENT INTERFERENCE.]
A hundred students looked at me.
No blade had ever been that honest.
Ren stood two steps behind my left shoulder with blood on his sleeve and his tray pressed against his chest like a shield. The tray had a dent in one corner where an echo-bell had struck it. The academy would probably charge him for the damage if we survived.
Priorities were an illness among institutions.
