Iris knelt near the final statue, hands still pressed against the mana channels where the nodes had been moments ago.
The synchronization should have worked.
It would have worked if not for–
She stopped herself before anger could spill out completely.
"Composure first. Analysis second. Anger never."
That was what Mother always said.
That was the way of Lockhart.
Iris Lockhart did not get angry easily. She was calm, deliberate, controlled, and analytical to a fault according to the adults in her life growing up. The perfect heir. The flawless tactician. The kind of person Grace trusted to stabilize something as complex and dangerous as a dual-node statue synchronization in the middle of a battlefield.
And yet–
Her hands trembled in shame.
Just slightly.
Iris flexed her fingers once, forcing the tremor away, then looked past Grace's layered barrier toward the retreating Class B students.
Elara Lockhart stood near the base, surrounded by classmates shouting her name.
