The crowd still burned behind me, their whispers clinging to my heels like smoke. No matter how many steps I took, I could feel them pressing at my back, voices wrapping around me. Chains. He bound him. Did you see it? A lion, on his knees.
Alaric walked beside me, stiff as a board, his hands twitching like he wasn't sure whether to wring them or hide them. Nyx draped himself across my shoulder, tail flicking lazily, but I could feel the tension in him too. His claws pressed lightly into the fabric of my coat, not enough to pierce, but enough to remind me he wasn't as calm as he looked.
The professor's words still echoed in my skull: Report to the Head Council chambers after lessons.
Alaric broke first. "Loki," he whispered, though the courtyard had already fallen behind us, "you don't understand. The Council isn't like professors. They're the academy's pillars. Nobles from the most powerful houses sit among them. They don't… they don't summon people like us."
