Moments later,

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The Nobles' Block was twenty luxury suites stacked vertically, a monument to inherited privilege disguised as student housing.

Aria's key turned in the lock of the penthouse suite - perks of a Blackwood name she no longer claimed but still wielded - and the door opened on marble floors and windows that overlooked the academy grounds like a general surveying a battlefield.

Lycian walked in first, his golden hair catching the afternoon light, his slit-pupiled eyes cataloguing exits and sightlines with the efficiency of a veteran. Fenris followed, her black hair a shadow against the pale walls, her foot tapping a rhythm of contained energy that made...