Queen Minul II rubbed a finger against the spot between her meticulously kept brows. She sat with eyes closed in her private audience chamber as the ten fools before her finished their ingratiating and grating report. Now, she sat in the silence, letting it linger as she considered what to do. Really, she should have them all executed, or at least thrown out.

Opening her eyes, she straightened enough to glare out onto the eight men and two women standing before her. “Councilors.” She said. “This situation isn’t just bad. It’s horrifying. I keep waiting for one of you to jump forwards, hoping you’ll exclaim that its a prank.”

She glared across the councilors before her, each of them her senior by more than twice her age. Each of them cowed by the consequences of their failure, if not her position.

“Is this a joke?” Minul stood up, holding out her hand. Saif handed her a bound folder. “Are you having fun? Should I?”

“My Quee-“

“Quiet!” She interrupted. “When you were elected to the Masters’ Council you took the responsibility of the tethered and their education on your shoulders.” She dropped the folder before them. It landed on the cold stone with a hard thump. “Every action the Principal of the Academy, or the Headmaster of the School takes is your responsibility. Every thing that doesn’t fall into the day to day running of their station is your responsibility to check, double check, and triple check. It’s your responsibility to make sure that every student is safe.”

She turned her back to them, walking back to her throne. “Fifteen dead.” She said, sitting down. She wanted to collapse into the chair, but she held herself firm, kept her glare sharp. “One-hundred-and-seventeen injured students.”

She let the silence sit heavy in the chamber. This was why she’d chosen her private chambers in the end. There was a lot of echo in the throne room and you could sometimes hear the city through windows and doors. Not here. In her private audience chambers silence reigned.

“So when the report from the academy has your seal of approval, that means it should be golden. You’ve accounted for everything. Managed the risks and handled the dangers.”

“Your majesty, we couldn’t have predicted-“

“Couldn’t have? Or didn’t?” Minul interrupted again. “It doesn’t matter Councilor Ulf. It was your job to make sure the benefits were high and the risks were low. Your shortsightedness shouldn’t have come into this.” She tapped her nails against the arm of her chair, as she worked her tongue under her lip.

“Pashar, the head administrator of the academy, is quite fastidious with her reports.” She finally said, indicating the folder before them. “I sent for her full reports this morning and it barely took her a quarter hour to hand deliver them herself.” What went unsaid wsa that it had taken the Masters’ Council more than two hours—after their summons—before they appeared. “That contains all three times she asked for safe houses and secure locations that each of the clinics could easily fall back to. The seven times she request the budget for watch locations with soldiers ready to assist the clinics, should they need it. The five times she asked for the budget to hire more than a few children to assist the clinics. Four times, she asked to postpone the project to give students time for triage training and setup proper long term clinics.”

Minul took a deep breath, holding her hand to Saif one last time. He quickly put the object into her hand. “She calls the clinics: ‘An excellent idea with great potential benefits, that suffer from understaffing and a choking budget.’ Three times, she requested that you stop the project after she realized you weren’t going to pay for it to be safe.”

“My Queen-“

Minul embraced the pressure in a split second, and pulled a sliver of warp from the knife in her sleeve. In seconds, it crossed the distance to the Master who’d stepped forwards, brushing her throat.

“Master Hildrid.” Minul said standing up. The tiny brush of warp had created a delicate cut on the Master’s skin, scarlet already welling up. “Unless you have an excellent reason for your failures, I suggest you shut up.”

Minul could see the desire in the Councilor to embrace the pressure, but she also knew better. Embracing the pressure was tantamount to pulling a knife and going for her throat. Slowly, each step ringing out against the cold hard stone, Minul approached. “So that got us looking a little closer at what happened. Why could the councilors be so resistant to stopping this new project?”

Minul lifted the object, displaying it between her finger and thumb. An eye, ringed by lines symbolizing the sun. “We’re done here.” She dropped the symbol of Kurri, Face of Benevolence, to the ground. It rang out in light tingle as it bounced twice before rolling away.

“Dismissed.” She called, abandoning her power.

The councilors stood in stunned silence for a moment, before Ulf in wisdom well beyond his previously capacity turned and walked out of the hall. As they departed, Minul saw someone else waiting for her. His fine nobleman attire precisely cut and made with fabulously expensive materials, yet understated enough to not outshine his host. He cocked an eyebrow standing before the doors, as if waiting his turn.

“Enter.” Minul commanded, and Leif Serpent-Vein followed.

“My Queen.” He said, as he dropped onto one knee.

“Leif of the House Serpent-Vein.” Minul acknowledged once she had reseated herself. “I must thank you for your quick actions and the actions of your men.” She kept her skepticism closely guarded, held near to her heart.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The Head of House Serpent-Vein bowed again. “But honestly I can’t take much pride in the accomplishment. It was my men’s quick thinking and the loyalty of commoners who deserve your regard. Those are the men you have to thank.”

Minul noted that he didn’t mention his own nephew’s involvement in last night’s affairs.

“Tell me, my Lord, why have you come?” She asked.

Leif smiled confidently. “I wanted to offer my services and the services of my men, in case the academy needed any help. I know this is a tough situation and the academy needs a strong guiding hand. One that has previously been shown to be lacking.”

Minul stifled her brows before they could draw together. “In what manner do you offer aid?”

“I have extensive experience with managing businesses. While I’m not entirely familiar with experience of being a tethered, I’m sure that what little knowledge I do have could come in handy.”

Minul was finding her patience with the man growing short. “Be frank, Leif. What is it you seek.”

“I would offer you my services in helping guide the academy into a brighter future, after the darkness of today.”

“I will not have someone on the Lords’ Council imposing on the Masters’ business.”

“Nor would I ask you to.” Leif said bowing deeply. “The House of Serpent-Vein is fully prepared to depart from either Council if that is what you desire. We would gladly offer that status for the role as Master of Education.”

There it is. Minul thought, leaning back in her seat. But could she let him make this play? It would be a fitting punishment for the Masters, but that wasn’t enough. Not for this.

“I have outside holdings and income that isn’t based on my status as neither a noble, nor a councilor. And as the Master of Education, I would take the safety of the students as my highest priority. After yesterday’s attacks I will invest greatly in figuring out who orchestrated the assaults.”

The double doors behind Leif opened again. “That’s all well and good…” The woman who stepped through called.

Ranvir accepted the pin back from Master Ayvir though he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it. He’d taken it off of Ratface during their fight, but hadn’t had the time to examine it until after they returned to the academy and got some sleep. Once he’d found it, he’d gone straight to Master Ayvir with it.

Now a few hours later, the Teacher had returned it to Ranvir. “We’ve found a few more like it.” Ayvir said. “The exact details about it are still being kept secret, but be assured that we have people looking into it.” He smile reassuringly.

“What is it?” Esmund asked, taking it out of Ranvir’s hand.

They were sitting on the Masters’ Tower, all of them this time. It afforded them a wide ranging view of the landscape, allowing them to see the white snow raining down for miles in every direction. The first snow of the year.

“Kurri’s Eye.” Kirs supplied. “It’s a symbol sometimes used in the church in relation to Kurri, but is most commonly seen outside of the church’s direct line of sight. Usually by people trying to piggyback off the churches reputation.”

Ranvir stopped listening halfway through spotting something else. Six people had arrived just outside the gates that were now slowly swinging open. “Who’s that?” He asked walking to the railing to get a closer look. “They look so weird.”

He heard the others follow behind him, though none of the others got all the way next to the rail like he did. Then he heard the gasped intake of air. Turning, he saw Ayvir looking pale as a ghost.

“What?” Ranvir asked.

“Ankirians.” Grevor said quietly.