"Come with me."
Jesse didn't wait to see if he'd follow. She turned and walked, and the certainty in her spine did the asking for her.
Lucavion fell into step beside her without comment, though she felt him glance sideways once, twice, cataloging the set of her shoulders. They left the practical hall by the side entrance rather than the main one, the noise of the diagnostic pairings dropping away behind the closing door.
The corridor beyond was narrow and mostly forgotten, a service passage between the Martial Arts Block and the covered walkway that led toward the Western Terrace, used more by staff moving equipment than by students moving between classes. No one else's footsteps echoed here. Stone underfoot, cooler air, a strip of open sky visible where the roof gave way to lattice.
'Good.'
"You know," Lucavion said, hands loose at his sides, tone light, "when a woman goes quiet and drags a man somewhere private, it's usually a better mood than this one."
Jesse didn't answer.
