So, here was the situation.
Big, bronze, gorgeous woman standing over an unconscious noble in the middle of the entrance hall. His friends yelling. Guards unsure what to do. Valdris watching from the side like this was a play she’d bought tickets to.
And sohow, so way, it was Aegis’s problem.
"So, uh... what exactly does this have to do with ?" Aegis whispered to Valdris without taking her eyes off the scene, hoping she could worm her way out of this situation entirely.
"She’s a scholarship student," Valdris said, her voice low and even. "Like it or not, you represent these people now. What she does reflects on you, and vice-versa."
[Fantastic. I get married to a princess, fight off assassins, and my reward is I now have to babysit a whole economic class?]
Aegis sighed and stepped forward.
The noble’s friends noticed her first. There were two of them, both kneeling next to the unconscious one, a guy with slicked-back hair who Aegis didn’t recognize, and the mont they saw Aegis approaching, their faces twisted up like they’d bitten into sothing sour.
"Lady Starcaller," the louder one said, standing up and pointing at Sylceris. "This bitch attacked Lord Harwin for no reason!"
Sylceris didn’t flinch at the word. She didn’t even blink. She just looked at the guy pointing at like she was already calculating how many punches it would take to put him down next to his friend.
"No reason?" Aegis repeated, keeping her face neutral. She looked at Sylceris. "What happened?"
Sylceris’s dark eyes shifted to Aegis, sizing her up for a second before she spoke. Her voice was lower than Aegis expected, and flat.
"He grabbed my arm. I told him to let go. He didn’t."
"That’s a lie!" the noble sputtered.
"Is it? What’s your side of the story? Did she just walk up and randomly clock you?"
He stamred for half a second and went quiet, like he hadn’t even realized he’d need to have his own version of what happened.
Aegis glanced down at Lord Harwin, still out cold on the floor. Then she looked at his friend.
"From where I’m standing, there’s a girl who says she was grabbed, and a guy with a fresh bruise on his jaw, and no alternative story to offer. That’s not ’no reason.’ That’s harassnt."
"She’s a commoner! She can’t just—"
"She can, actually. If soone puts their hands on you, you’re allowed to hit them. That’s not my rule. That’s the academy’s."
The noble opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. No words ca out. He looked like a fish on a cutting board.
Aegis turned to Valdris.
"Headmistress, I assu the academy has policies against harassnt?"
Valdris hadn’t moved from her spot. Her arms were still crossed, her expression was still neutral, though Aegis would guess the old woman was enjoying this. Actually, no. Valdris was absolutely enjoying this.
"Indeed we do," Valdris said. "Lord Harwin will be disciplined when he wakes up. I suggest his friends carry him to the infirmary before he catches a cold on the floor."
The two nobles looked at each other. Then at Valdris. Then at Aegis. Then at Sylceris, who still hadn’t uncrossed her arms.
Finally, they picked up their friend and carried him off without another word, though the louder one shot a look over his shoulder that Aegis was pretty sure was supposed to be intimidating.
The small crowd that had gathered started to thin out, and Aegis let herself breathe for a second. She turned to Sylceris, who was watching the nobles leave with an expression that could generously be described as "completely uninterested."
"You," Aegis said. "With ."
Sylceris stared at her for a long mont, then shrugged, and the two of them walked out of the entrance hall together. Aegis could feel Valdris’s eyes on her back and she didn’t turn around.
---
They walked through the halls in silence.
Aegis led them away from the main corridors, past the classrooms that wouldn’t open for another hour, through a side passage that connected to one of the quieter wings near the library. The kind of hallway that nobody used this early in the morning because there was no reason to.
Good. She needed sowhere private for what she was about to do.
[Alright. Let’s see if my gut is right.]
They stopped near a window at the end of the hall. Morning light ca in from outside and the only sound was their own breathing. Sylceris leaned against the wall and looked at Aegis with that sa flat, guarded expression she’d had since the entrance hall.
"Thanks for stepping in," Sylceris said. She didn’t sound very thankful. She sounded like she was saying it because she knew she was supposed to.
"Don’t ntion it."
Silence.
Aegis looked at her.
She really looked at her. Bronze skin, sharp jaw, dark eyes, white hair. A body built for fighting, all muscle under the uniform, with wide hips and thick thighs to match. She was hot. (That wasn’t the relevant observation right now, but Aegis’s brain never missed a chance to catalog that.)
The relevant observation was that this girl had arrived imdiately after Aegis had received that System notification saying that the Umbral Blade would be infiltrating the school.
With that in her mind, Aegis crossed her arms, inhaled slowly, and took a chance.
"So," Aegis said, keeping her voice casual. "You’re a shadow mage, aren’t you?"
The change was instant.
One second, Sylceris was leaning against the wall. The next, she was right in front of Aegis, close enough that Aegis could feel the heat coming off her skin, and there was a knife pressed against Aegis’s throat. Where the knife ca from, Aegis had no idea. She hadn’t seen her draw it. She’d barely seen her move.
Sylceris’s dark eyes were locked onto hers and they were not flat anymore. They were sharp and focused.
[Well.] The blade was cold against Aegis’s neck. [... I guess I was right.]
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