POV: Torin Midnight
I am the first to arrive at the old study room in the west tower, the one none of us have used since our second year, back when the four of us still pretended we might actually be friends instead of rivals wearing polite masks. Dust coats the shelves, thick enough to show the outline of books no one has touched in years. A single high window lets in a narrow shaft of afternoon light, catching the motes drifting lazily through the stale air. Nobody comes looking for anyone here anymore, which is precisely why Vargus chose it.
Vargus called this meeting an hour ago, four words scrawled on a note slipped under my door. We need to talk. No signature. He didn't need one. I recognized the sharp, economical handwriting immediately, the same hand I'd seen scratch out orders d
