Malcris saved three students before the Echo Warden finished crushing the dais.
That was where the problem sharpened.
Villains who did nothing but sneer were convenient. You could point at them, name them, strike them, and let morality applaud. Professor Aldric Malcris was not convenient. He lifted a fallen judgment crystal with one hand, redirected a collapsing support beam with a clean Aether pulse, and pulled a screaming administrator out from beneath white stone before the man's spine became part of academy architecture.
The hall saw him save lives.
The hall did not see the soul-thread he slipped into the broken crystal while everyone was busy surviving.
I did.
Barely.
Nihil noticed too.
Eat.
"No," I muttered.
Seraphina heard me anyway. "No what?"
"Long list."
