The morning classroom smelled of chalk dust and old wood polish, and Lyssa entered it with Elara at her side like a matched pair of knives in different sheaths.
Students dotted the benches in loose clusters. Sophia sat near the front, horned head bent over a notebook.
Yuki occupied a middle row with her back very straight, the posture of a girl pretending her hips did not ache.
Aldric slumped beside a window, grey-faced and hollow under the eyes, the look of a boy who had volunteered his own body to an apothecary's table and was paying the installment plan. And near the far wall, Prince Leo sat with his chin propped on one hand, wearing boredom like a crown he was too proud to remove.
Lyssa took her usual seat.
