e Laws

aring with elemental fire, carried me across enchanted rails to the shores of the Black Lake. Crossing its dark, mirror-like waters alone in a narrow wood

e plain, unadorned grey robe issued to all initiates, I retreated to a shadowed pillar and observed in silence. A Dragonkin youth with polished obsidian horns leaned against the balustr

ied by the clatter of heeled boots on stone. A tall figure with sleek, platinum bl

present lapdog, and beside them stood a face that plu

ed my ears. Before the bankruptcy, he had sent enchanted winter roses to my dormitory every week, swearing devotion and begging for

inner circle, standing half a step behind Vanessa with his chest

aking over my plain robes like an aristocrat appraisin

her voice a sickly sweet poison. "A bankrupt little Lawson. I was wondering how a mund

students turned their heads. "She probably pawne

"Colette, you should have known your place and stayed in the mundane slums. Clinging to the illusion that you still belong among nobility is pathetic. Did you really think your father's fraudul

so viciously in public would have shattered my heart. I would have look

d smirk and Vanessa's triumphant glare, my

otten meat. Julian had never loved Colette Lawson. He had loved the Lawson family's gold, the trade contracts my father con

le carve across my face. It was a cold, venomous

ass, doesn't he, Julian?" I said, my voice quiet, fl

is face reddening.

he expensive silk ribbon in her platinum hair down to the

"A hollow, social-climbing sycophant desperate for a patron, paired with an insecure heiress whose

e a whip crack again

ragonkin alcove let out s

flushed scarlet with humiliation, her chest heaving in fury. "

nd tucked into his belt, his eyes blazing with

sity of someone who had seen death face to face. "Draw your wand before the sorting ceremony and get your name struck fro

froze over his

ut before she could speak, the towering double do

staff striking the flagstones with an echoing boom. "Silence. Th

us promise of vengeance before dragging Julian back into formation

, my breathing s

here silent lightning danced between constellations. Four massive banquet tables stretched the leng

r-iron. Resting upon it was the Crown of Origin-an ancient, sentient band of woven

stool, and the moment the thorns brushed their temples, t

sa Ste

ogant grace. She sat, and the Crown barely grazed her plati

Spirit

Vanessa stood, offering a haughty curtsy to the High Elves and pure-blood sci

uding Julian, who was placed into

itch unrolled the

tte L

. The news of the early admit from the mundane realm who had just p

traight, meeting the hundreds of staring

, heavy silver thorns of the

overwhelming consciousness flooded my mind, rushin

. *Not a fragile child at all. A soul scarred by fire and dissecting blades... soaked in the blood of betrayal, car

a dagger. *Then place me where I will forge the steel t

in my mind, its presence l

e Abyss-Spirit table, Vanessa leaned forward with a gloating smirk, while Megan whispered

a blinding, incandescent crimson fire that il

oss the Great Hall with the

Spirit

of cheers and banging tankards, the house of courage, determinati

sk of pure, unadulterated hatred. Blaze-Spirit and Abyss-Spiri

stepped down from the dais toward the sea of crimson fire