The silence lasted less than a second.
It felt like a lifetime.
Jordan slowly lifted his head.
I stood frozen, my oversized shirt hanging crookedly over one shoulder, my pulse hammering so violently I thought they could hear it.
Deputy Sheriff Moira Files did not blink.
She looked at her son.
Then at me.
Then back at her son.
Something inside her seemed to crack without making a sound.
"I told you," Derrick Vale repeated quietly.
Jordan rose to his feet.
His expression changed so quickly it frightened me.
The warmth disappeared.
The tenderness.
The boy who had kissed me moments ago vanished beneath the practiced composure of Jordan Files.
"Leave."
His voice was calm.
It wasn't a request.
Derrick laughed.
"I don't think you're in a position to give orders."
"You entered a girl's room without permission."
"I entered because I knew exactly what I'd find."Derrick smirked .
Jordan took one step forward.
"So leave."
The air shifted.
I felt it before I saw it.
The temperature dropped.
Jordan's pupils narrowed.
The wolf.
Moira stepped between them.
"Enough."
Neither man looked away.
"I said enough."
Jordan's breathing slowed.
The wolf retreated.
Only slightly.
Derrick folded his arms.
"You've broken one of the oldest laws in Tish."
"We kissed," Jordan replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"You were doing considerably more than kissing."
Heat rushed into my face.
Moira finally looked at me.
Her expression held no anger.
Only exhaustion.
"Night..."
My name sounded painfully gentle.
"I need you to answer one question."
I couldn't speak.
"Are you and my son involved?"
Jordan answered before I could.
"Yes."
"Jordan."
"No."
He never looked away from his mother.
"I'm done pretending."
Something flickered across Moira's face.
Fear.
Real fear.
"Do you understand what you've admitted?"
"I do."
"The Council won't care that you're my son."
"I know."
"They won't care that she's a student."
"I know."
"They will execute both of you."
Silence.
Jordan reached for my hand.
His fingers found mine without hesitation.
Without shame.
Without permission.
"I know."
Moira closed her eyes.
For a brief moment she wasn't the Deputy Sheriff of Tish.
She was simply a mother watching her child walk willingly toward disaster.
Derrick smiled.
"There."
He pointed at our joined hands.
"That's all the evidence we'll need."
"No."
Everyone turned.
Moira's voice was suddenly harder than stone.
"No Council trial is built on hearsay."
Derrick frowned.
"I witnessed it."
"You witnessed two students alone in a bedroom."
"I witnessed far more than that."He sneered
"You witnessed nothing you can prove."
His jaw tightened.
"I have a statement."
"You have an accusation."
The room became dangerously quiet.
I looked at Moira in disbelief.
She was protecting us.
Or trying to.
Derrick's eyes narrowed.
"You would obstruct the law?"
"I would follow it."
"The law requires investigation."
"It requires evidence."
Jordan squeezed my hand once.
A silent thank you.
Moira noticed.
Pain flashed through her eyes.
"Jordan."
"Yes?"
"If I ask you now..."
She swallowed.
"...to end this."
He answered immediately.
"I can't."
She nodded once.
As though she had expected nothing else.
Then she turned to me.
"And you?"
Every instinct screamed at me to lie.
To save him.
To save myself.
Instead I heard Frodo Peppins.
Fear tells you there will be another time.
Most of the time...
it lies.
I looked directly into her eyes.
"I love him."
The words escaped before I could stop them.
No.
Perhaps they had been trying to escape for months.
The room seemed to exhale.
Derrick actually smiled.
"There it is."
Moira stared at me for a long time.
Then she whispered something so quietly I almost missed it.
"So it begins."
A loud bell echoed across Raven Hollow.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Not the class bell.
The Iron Bell.
Every face changed.
Derrick's satisfaction vanished.
Moira went pale.
Jordan's grip tightened around my hand.
"What is it?" I whispered.
Nobody answered.
The bell rang a fourth time.
Then a fifth.
Students poured into the corridors outside.
Voices.
Running footsteps.
Shouting.
Moira walked to the window.
Her face drained of colour.
"No..."
Jordan reached the window beside her.
I followed.
Below us, hundreds of students stood in the central courtyard, staring toward the Academy gates.
The enormous iron doors were opening.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
A procession of black carriages rolled inside Raven Hollow.
Each bearing the same silver crest.
A wolf...
entwined with a human hand.
The crest of the High Council.
Jordan spoke without taking his eyes off the courtyard.
"They're early."
My stomach dropped.
"They weren't due for another month."
Moira whispered,
"They've come because someone summoned them."
Behind us, Derrick Vale smiled.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Jordan turned.
"You..."
Derrick gave the smallest of bows.
"I informed the Council four days ago."
His eyes settled on me.
"I told them Raven Hollow was harbouring another forbidden love."
Outside, the fifth carriage came to a stop.
Its door opened.
An old man dressed entirely in white stepped onto the Academy grounds.
Even from three floors above, every student instinctively stepped backward.
Principal Scavenger emerged from the main building.
And, for the first time in anyone's memory...
the Principal bowed.