{IRIS}
I wasn't entirely sure what to do with myself now that I had arrived so early at the academy.
The unfamiliarity of this place left me unsettled, my anxiety rising like dark water around my ankles. I found myself missing Lord Val's quiet assurance, and even Sebastian's harsh lessons.
To drown the feeling, I completed the training Sebastian had carved into my routine—stances, footwork, the sting of a new bruise—then wandered the vast grounds with no real destination.
The Covens of Midnight was vast.
Far larger than any estate, village, or territory I had ever known—so sprawling it felt more like a city carved out of moonlight and void than a school.
Had it not been for the enchanted maps whispering directions whenever I passed them, I would have been hopelessly lost.
The place reminded me of an enchanted labyrinth, each path folding into another, each courtyard a doorway to something stranger.
