[POV Liselotte]

  The morning sun struck the windows of my room with almost aggressive insistence. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, finishing the adjustment of the leather straps on my bracers. Although my body felt revitalized after the night training, my mind was still processing the immensity of the power that now resided within me. It was a strange sensation. On the outside, I looked like the same girl as always, but on the inside, Tiara’s ocean of energy roared with a tense calm, waiting for an order.

  Suddenly, the door flew open without warning.

  “Lotte! Are you still wasting time staring into nothing?” Chloé burst in like a white whirlwind, her wolf ears twitching nervously and her tail swishing from side to side.

  I jumped to my feet, hiding my surprise. “I was just making sure my gear was in order, Chloé. What’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong is that you’re the Supreme Guardian and I’m your support, and our charge is still without supervision!” Chloé excimed, grabbing my arm with surprising strength. “We have to go check on Leah right now. Too much time has passed since sunrise. In this nest of vipers you call a castle, ten minutes of carelessness is an eternity. Move those human legs, let’s go!”

  I had no time to argue. Chloé dragged me through the carpeted hallways, ignoring the startled looks of servants and the rigid posture of the honor guards. We crossed the east wing at a pace bordering on a sprint. My heart began to pound, not from the exertion, but from the protective instinct I shared with the wolf. If anything happened to Leah now that I knew she was the key to Lyre, I would never forgive myself.

  We reached the double doors of Leah’s chambers. The two guards at the entrance snapped to attention when they saw us, but Chloé did not even greet them. She simply pushed the doors open and we went in.

  The silence that greeted us was absolute. The curtains were still drawn, plunging the room into a bluish twilight.

  “Leah?” I called softly as I approached the canopied bed.

  Nothing. Only the sound of slow, steady breathing.

  Chloé and I moved closer. Leah was there, sunk into silk pillows, her face wearing an expression of complete peace that contrasted sharply with everything we had been through. It seemed that the exhaustion of the st ten years had finally caught up with her in the most mundane way possible, through deep sleep.

  “Leah, wake up. It’s te,” Chloé said, giving her a small nudge on the shoulder.

  Leah let out an unintelligible groan and pulled the bnket over her head.

  Five minutes passed. We tried calling her, gently shaking her, and Chloé even tried licking her cheek, which only made Leah scratch her face in her sleep. Ten minutes ter, Chloé crossed her arms and snorted in frustration.

  “I give up. It’s easier to wake a bear in the middle of winter than this princess,” the wolf growled.

  At that very moment, the bedroom door opened again. A maid rushed in, her face flushed from exertion and her cap askew.

  “Princess Leah! Princess, please wake up!” the woman shouted, ignoring protocol in her urgency. “His Majesty King William summons you to his office immediately! He says it is a matter of utmost importance that cannot wait even a minute!”

  The shout was like a magical explosion in the room. Leah sat bolt upright, eyes wide open, hair sticking out in every direction. She blinked in confusion, looking at the maid and then meeting our curious stares.

  “Lotte? Chloé? What… what time is it?” Leah asked, her voice thick with sleep as she tried to brush a lock of hair from her face.

  “It’s time for you to put something decent on and stop hibernating, Princess,” Chloé replied with a teasing grin. “Your father is in a hurry.”

  Leah turned red as a tomato when she realized we were watching her in her most vulnerable state. “Get out! Give me five minutes! I’ll be changed in a fsh!”

  Ten minutes ter, Leah emerged looking impeccable in a royal blue travel dress, though her eyes still showed traces of sleep. We walked in silence toward the King’s study, fnked by the Royal Guard, who now cleared a path for us with bows that still made me uncomfortable.

  When we arrived, William greeted us standing beside a massive map of the kingdom spread across his desk. At his side, half hidden in the shadows, stood an older man of around sixty, dressed in impeccable bck livery. His face was a web of wise wrinkles, and his steel-gray eyes analyzed everything with a disturbing calm. He was the Royal Butler, Barnaby, a man who, according to rumor, had served three generations of Whirikal.

  “Daughter, I am gd you could join us,” William said with a warm smile, though his eyes quickly returned to seriousness. “I have been reviewing the reports from the Tower mages regarding your performance in the quarry and during your journey.”

  Leah straightened, regaining her royal bearing. “I hope the reports were satisfactory, Father.”

  “More than that, Leah. I have been informed that you possess an astonishing affinity with fire. It is not just basic magic. It is a specialization that few members of our bloodline have managed to master in centuries. Most of the Whirikal family lean toward physical reinforcement or light, but you… you seem to have a living fme inside you.”

  William walked toward her, pcing a hand on her shoulder. “I have decided to hire one of the three Archmages of the Tower to be your personal tutor. I want you to develop that potential to its fullest. The kingdom needs a powerful heir.”

  Leah opened her mouth, ready to accept, the determination in her eyes clear. Duty seemed to be calling her once more. However, before she could say a word, the butler Barnaby stepped forward, breaking his statue-like silence.

  “If I may offer a suggestion, Your Majesty,” Barnaby said. His voice was like old velvet, soft yet commanding. “I believe that hiring a private tutor would be a strategic mistake in the Princess’s development.”

  William raised an eyebrow. “A mistake, Barnaby? Expin yourself.”

  “Princess Leah has spent most of her youth either in a cell or fighting for her life in the forests as an adventurer,” the butler continued, looking at Leah with what seemed like genuine compassion. “She has seen the darkest and harshest side of the world. What she needs now is not more isotion with an old mage who will only teach her theory and power. What the Princess needs is to meet the people she will one day rule. She needs friends, rivals, to enjoy the youth that was taken from her, and to broaden her horizons beyond the walls of this castle or the edge of a sword.”

  Barnaby paused, looking directly at the King. “I suggest that Princess Leah enroll in the Royal Academy of Magic of Whirikal.”

  Silence fell over the room. William grew thoughtful, stroking his beard. Leah, for her part, had eyes shining with a mix of surprise and excitement.

  “The Academy?” Leah murmured. “I never thought…”

  “What do you think, my daughter?” William asked. “It is true that we deprived you of a normal life. The Academy would give you the opportunity to train not only as a mage, but as a leader among your peers.”

  Leah looked at me and then at Chloé. I could see the longing on her face, the spark of a sixteen-year-old girl who wanted to see something more than blood and shadows.

  “I would like to go, Father,” Leah said firmly. “But on one condition. I will not go alone. I want Lotte and Chloé to come with me. Lotte as my guardian and as a student, and Chloé… well, she needs to be close.”

  I froze. The Academy? Seriously? In my past life as Edward, I had devoured dozens of anime and light novels about magic schools in fantasy worlds. I knew exactly how this went. Boring theoretical exams, arrogant nobles challenging me to duels, absurd school festivals, and teenage drama everywhere. With the power of a pnet in my veins and the threat of two psychopathic goddesses looming over us, the idea of sitting at a desk listening to how to conjure a basic fireball felt utterly ridiculous.

  This is going to be a walking cliché, I thought with an internal sigh. All that’s missing is some duke’s son trying to humiliate me on the first day so I have to show my “hidden power.” What a hassle.

  Still, when I looked at Leah’s face, filled with almost childlike hope, I knew I could not refuse. She needed this. She needed to be a normal girl for a while before destiny cimed her.

  “If the princess wishes it, I will follow her wherever she goes,” I said, trying not to let my voice sound as weary as I felt.

  “I’m going too,” Chloé added, sniffing the air suspiciously. “But if anyone tries to make me wear a uniform with a short skirt, I won’t be responsible for my cws.”

  William ughed. “Then it is decided. Barnaby, arrange the paperwork. They will enter in the semester that begins in two weeks.”

  The King stopped ughing, and his expression turned icy in an instant. The atmosphere in the office shifted, becoming heavy and dark.

  “Now that we have decided your academic future, we must speak of what truly keeps me awake at night,” William said, looking at each of us in turn, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “We must speak of the Church of Gaia.”

  I tensed. I remembered Priest Sis in the quarry and Tiara’s words about how Gaia was a human who had usurped power.

  “They have begun to move openly,” the King continued. “They are calling the quarry experiment an act of treason against divinity. They are stirring up the masses in the border cities, saying that the royal family has lost the Goddess’s blessing for allowing ‘outsiders’ to wield forbidden powers.” He looked at you, Lotte. “The Church does not seek only religion. It seeks total control of the kingdom. And they will stop at nothing to achieve it.”

  I looked at Leah. The peace of the academy suddenly felt like a distant dream. The war between the crown and the staff was only just beginning, and we were standing right in the middle of it.