VEILBORN

THE OFFICE.

CHAPTER 4: THE OFFICE.

Headmistress Office, Level 5 Phoenix Tier, Day 2 Morning.

POV: Ryn

The walk to Phoenix Tier took forever.

Five levels up from Ash Tier. I counted every step because counting kept my hands from shaking. Ash Tier stairs were cracked stone and always damp. Cinder Tier had the floating gardens with vines that glowed faint blue at night. Ember Tier was all chains and metal bridges that swayed if you looked down. Flame Tier had glass bridges over open lava drops. And Phoenix Tier… Phoenix Tier was a spike of black obsidian punched straight into the caldera sky.

The air got colder with every level. By the time we reached the top, my breath came out in white clouds. My uniform wasn’t made for this cold. It was made for the heat of Ash Tier, where the dorms sat close to the vents. Up here the wind cut through the thin fabric like it wasn’t there.

Headmistress Selene didn’t speak during the climb. She just walked. Her black dress didn’t touch the stone steps. It hovered, like the fabric was too good for dust. Her silver hair was pulled back sharp enough to cut. People moved out of her way three steps before she reached them. No one bowed. No one had to. Her presence was the bow.

Her office was a circle of glass set into the spire. No walls. Just glass and wind and the whole caldera spread out below. Dusk sky bleeding orange into purple. Lava moving slow under a crust of black rock. The heat rose, but up here it didn’t reach. Up here it was just cold and the sound of wind hitting glass.

There was no desk. No shelves. No papers. Just one stone chair in the center of the circle, and Selene standing beside it.

“Sit,” she said. One word. It wasn’t loud but it landed heavy.

I sat. The stone sucked the heat out of me immediately. Cold shot up through my uniform, up my spine, into my teeth. I gripped the edge of the chair to keep my hands still. Didn’t help.

Selene circled me once. Slow. Her gray eyes moved over my face, my shoulders, my hands, my boots. Like she was cataloging every flaw I had. Like she’d done this a thousand times before and knew exactly what liars looked like.

“Null reading at the gate,” she said. Voice flat. “Reflexes of a trained fighter at the drill yard yesterday. Which is the lie, Ryn Vale?”

“Neither,” I said. I kept my voice steady. Steady was the only thing I had. “Null means no magic. That’s what the gate said. Reflexes mean I’ve run a lot. That’s all.”

“From what?” she asked. She stopped behind the chair. I couldn’t see her face but I could feel her looking at the back of my head.

“Life,” I said. It was the truth and it wasn’t. Life had been running. Life had been hiding. Life had been learning how to land without breaking bones.

Selene made a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Nulls don’t run toward Wispwraiths, Miss Vale. Nulls don’t drop from rafters twenty feet up and stand without limping. Nulls don’t watch guards fight and move like they’ve done it before.”

I stared at the floor. The stone was polished so smooth I could see the reflection of my own face. Tired. Dirty. Ash in my hair. I said nothing because anything I said would be a lie, and she’d hear it anyway.

The glass door opened without a sound. No click. No hinge. Just cold air pouring in like water.

The temperature dropped ten degrees. Frost spread across the floor in a thin white line starting at the doorway.

I didn’t look up. I didn’t have to. I knew that cold. I’d felt it in the drill yard yesterday when he’d stood at the edge and watched me fall.

Kael Draymor. Ember Tier.

His boots were quiet on the stone but the frost gave him away. Every step he took left a thin film of ice behind. It melted two seconds later but the pattern was there.

He stopped beside the Headmistress. He didn’t look at me. He looked out at the caldera. Arms crossed. Runes on his sleeves dim and silver, not glowing. Like he’d turned them down on purpose.

“Report,” Selene said.

He didn’t speak for three seconds. Kael never spoke unless he had to. When he did, every word cost him something.

“Ward failure,” he said finally. “Real breach. Ash Tier girl intervened. No magic used.”

Seven words. For him that was a speech.

“Did she?” Selene asked him. She didn’t look at him. She was still watching me. “Use magic?”

Kael finally glanced at me. Glacier eyes. Pale and cold and completely empty of anything I could read. “No.”

Lie. He didn’t know. He hadn’t been close enough to see. But he said it flat, like it was fact, like his word was law in this place. And in Ember Tier, it was.

Selene studied both of us. Her gaze went from me to him and back again. “Interesting,” she said. “He vouches. She stays silent.”

Kael looked back at the lava. Like I wasn’t there. Like this whole thing was boring and he had better things to do. Like standing in the Headmistress’s office was a waste of his time.

“You’re dismissed, Draymor,” Selene said. “Back to Ember Tier training. We’ll discuss ward reinforcements later.”

He left without another glance. Frost trailed behind his boots all the way to the door. The door closed and the room warmed by one degree. It still felt like winter.

Selene turned to me. “The Obsidian Circle will watch you now, Ryn Vale. Not because you’re strong. Because you’re interesting. And interesting things get people killed here. Students vanish. Accidents happen. Especially to interesting nulls.”

“Noted,” I said. My voice came out rough.

“Back to Ash Tier,” she said. “And stay out of places you’re not allowed. Chain Gardens. Phoenix Spire. The lower vents. If I catch you anywhere above Level 2 again without escort, there will be consequences.”

I stood. My legs were numb from the cold chair. I didn’t bow. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to. I just walked to the door.

My hand was on the glass when she said, “One more thing.”

I stopped. Didn’t turn.

“If you are hiding something, Miss Vale, the mountain will find it. This place has a way of pulling truth out of people. Keep that in mind.”

I didn’t answer. I pushed the door open and walked out.

The hallway outside was empty. Wide and black and lined with glass on one side. On the other side was a drop. Straight down to Level 4. No railing. Phoenix Tier didn’t believe in railings.

Kael was waiting there. Not for me. Just standing, looking out at the chains that connected Level 4 to Level 3. Hands in pockets. Posture lazy like he had all day.

I tried to pass without speaking. Tried to make my steps quiet.

He didn’t move. Didn’t look at me. Didn’t acknowledge I existed.

But as I walked past, close enough that my sleeve almost brushed his arm, he said one word.

Low. So low I almost missed it under the wind.

“Rat.”

Then he was gone. Turned and walked down the chain stairs to Ember Tier without looking back. Frost melted off the steps behind him.

I hated him. Still. The way he looked through me. The way he’d called me rat yesterday and said it like fact.

But my heart beat too fast.

Perfect.