Alaric disappeared into the crowd, already rehearsing his aristocratic chin tilt like a soldier practicing sword forms.
I stayed a moment longer, watching the other students mill about the bulletin board.
Most of them were busy pinning their hopes and futures onto scraps of paper — fencing, debate, drama, all the usual suspects.
Clubs. Social ladders. Carefully arranged alliances.
It was all very… academy.
But out there, beyond these walls, a different kind of game was waiting.
One that had nothing to do with noble smiles and polite venom. One that was much more my speed.
The casino.
I left the academy behind and made my way down the lantern-lit streets of the city. By the time the academy towers were swallowed by distance, the world had changed.
I was going to the lowest level of the capital city, where all the shady business took place.
And when I reached, the air was thicker, carrying pipe smoke, perfume, and the low thrum of hidden music.
