Hanalei sat three rows behind Dimitri, her eyes fixed on the back of his neck. Usually, he was a statue, but today, he was a stone wall.
Mrs. Gable, still looking intimidated by her star student, cleared her throat. "Moving on to modern history... a regime change as radical as the 21st-century shift often leads to what social outcome?"
The room stayed silent. Hanalei tapped her pen against her chin, thinking of the "sanitized" version of history her father's advisors often discussed at dinner.
Dimitri didn't even raise his hand. He just spoke, his voice cutting through the classroom like a serrated blade.
"Economic collapse. Systematic riots. Regime replacement. And, if the opposition is competent... assassination."
The silence that followed was suffocating. The girl sitting next to Dimitri actually moved her desk an inch away from him.
