Chapter 20 CHAPTER TWENTY
AERIS
By the time the afternoon sun settled, i had three books open, two scrolls unrolled, ink stains all over my fingers, and absolutely no memory of what sleep felt like anymore.
I’d spent the entire night and morning proving…no, obliterating that rune translation.
Every page I flipped made me more certain. Every scribbled note made me more determined.
And today… I was going to defend it.
Against the Grand. Sovereign.
Gods. Actually, help me.
I dragged both hands through my hair and began pacing across the tiny space between our bunks for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Why are you pacing?” Rhea muttered from her bunk, voice thick with sleep. She cracked one eye open and squinted at me. “You look like you’re about to take an exam naked.”
“I’m not pacing,” I snapped while absolutely pacing.
“Mm-hmm.”
She flopped onto her back, blanket half-tangled around her legs. “Then what’s with the serial-killer energy you’re giving off?”
I stopped just long enough to groan into my palms. “I have to meet the Grand Sovereign today.”
Rhea went still.
Like…completely still.
Her blanket slid off her as she sat up so fast she nearly headbutted the bunk above her. “You WHAT?!”
I winced. “Don’t yell—”
“No. No, no, no. I am yelling.” She scrambled to kneel on her mattress, gripping the wooden railing like she needed support to handle the information. “You have to meet who?! Aeris, you can’t just drop something like that while I’m half-conscious!”
I opened my mouth to explain, but she barreled on.
“What do you mean ‘meet’ him? Meet him how? Meet him why? Are you in trouble? Did you break something? Did he catch you breathing wrong?” She gasped. “Did you accidentally insult him? Tell me you didn’t insult him!”
“It was—”
“Wait.” Her hand shot up. “Back up. Start from the beginning.”
I groaned. “It was nothing. I just… may have disagreed with something in a book.”
“A book,” she echoed flatly. “A book where?”
“In the library.”
“And the Grand Sovereign just—what? Walked in?”
“No, he was already there.”
Rhea blinked slowly. “You were… alone. In the library. With the Grand Sovereign.”
“Well…yes.”
“And he talked to you.”
“Um… yes.”
“And you—” She pointed at me like she was identifying a dangerous creature. “You argued with him.”
“It was a friendly argument,” I tried.
Rhea stared.
Dead. Blank. Completely unconvinced.
“Aeris,” she said slowly, “you argued. With the most powerful mage in Virelia. The man even the third-years avoid. The man people bow to if they even hear his footsteps.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “It wasn’t—look, he asked me to defend my theory today, okay?”
Rhea’s mouth fell open.
Then she let out a strangled noise that wasn’t quite a scream or a laugh—more like both.
“Oh gods, you’re doomed.” She slapped a hand over her heart dramatically. “I always knew I’d lose you young, but I thought it’d be a wraithattack or a collapsing roof not academic combat with the Grand Sovereign!”
“It’s not combat,” I muttered.
“It’s worse! It’s intellectual combat! The deadliest kind!” She flopped back on her bed and covered her eyes. “I can’t believe this. Kaelia will have a heart attack when she hears your obituary.”
I glared. “I’m not going to die.”
Rhea peeked through her fingers. “Then you need to calm down, stop pacing, and maybe…maybe eat something before you go up against him”
I exhaled shakily, sinking onto my bunk.
Rhea watched me for a long moment, her expression softening. “Hey,” she said gently. “You’re smart. Like, actually scary smart. If anyone can stand their ground, it’s you.”
A flutter of warmth hit my chest.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
She smirked. “Now go wash your face. You look like someone dragged you across a battlefield.”
I stared at her. “I was dragged across a battlefield,” I reminded her weakly.
“Oh. Right.”
Rhea winced. “Well… then at least brush your hair?”
She threw her blanket aside and pointed at me like she was presenting evidence in court.
“First you get the Captain personally training you, and now the Grand Sovereign wants to meet you again.” She shook her head, half amazed, half offended. “Do you realize how insane that sounds? People would literally sacrifice limbs for this kind of attention.”
I grimaced. “I don’t know if ‘lucky’ is the word…”
“No, it is,” she insisted. “You’re being noticed. By the academy’s strongest mage”
I shot her a glare.
But inside… inside my thoughts twisted tight.
Lucky? Is that what this is?
Mother made it very clear…don’t draw attention to yourself, Aeris.
Blend in. Stay small. Don’t let anyone look too closely. But somehow everything I did dragged more attention my way like the universe was laughing at the rules she gave me.
But my knowledge is what I have and I’m not walking into that hall just to be dismissed like some broken spellbook.
I lifted my chin, breathing a little steadier.
“I’m determined,” I said quietly. “I’m proving him wrong.”
Rhea groaned and flopped back onto her pillow.
“Great. Fantastic. That’s exactly the confident energy you need. Now go brush your hair before you meet the masked overlord of the academy looking like a haunted scarecrow.”
I threw a pillow at her.
The library was quieter in the evening. Dust floated lazily in the air, turning the place almost sacred. My heartbeat, however, was anything but calm.
I’d arrived early. Too early.
I sat at the same table as last night, the rune book open in front of me along with the notes I’d scribbled until my fingers cramped. My knee bounced restlessly under the table.
Twenty minutes.
He still wasn’t here.
I tried to reread the passage…again but my eyes kept darting toward the entrance. Every soft footstep from some student or librarian had my shoulders tensing.
Maybe he changed his mind.
Maybe he decided a first-year wasn’t worth his time after all. Maybe this had been some weird power play and not a real challenge.
I pressed my palm flat against the table, steadying myself.
No. If there was one thing I learned last night, it was that the Grand Sovereign didn’t waste time on people he didn’t think mattered. He’d said tomorrow. He meant it.
The silence grew heavier, stretching my nerves thin. I leaned back in my chair, staring up at the carved ceiling.
“Where are you?” I muttered.
A soft breeze stirred the pages of my book…strange, because the windows were closed. The air shifted, colder, sharper, like the room itself was holding its breath.
And then—
Footsteps.
My pulse spiked.
I didn’t need to look to know it was him.
But I did anyway. Slowly.
And there he was…emerging between the shelves like the library itself had summoned him, dark robes trailing, that damned silver mask hiding everything except his eyes.
He walked toward me with quiet, controlled confidence, stopping right across from my table.
“You’re early,” he said, voice smooth behind the mask.
I swallowed. “You’re late.”
A pause.
Then, very softly..
“Interesting.”
He took the seat opposite mine, folding his hands atop the table.
“Show me your argument, Aeris Thalorian.”
And just like that, the challenge officially began.