The morning began too peacefully.
Kael had just finished stuffing his face with an entire loaf of spell-infused honey bread, apparently it improved "mental acuity," though mostly it made his jaw sticky, and was sitting under a towering glass arch in the academy's upper courtyard. Students bustled past in robes of different house colors, chattering, floating textbooks gliding beside them like curious birds.
He leaned back on the bench, blinking at the sunrise, soaking in what could generously be called a calm moment.
That was, of course, the moment things started going sideways.
He felt it first.
That unsettling tingle of eyes. Not magical. Just deeply uncomfortable.
He turned slowly.
Across the courtyard, half-concealed behind a marble pillar, was a girl.
Pale blue robes. Jet black hair in perfect curls. And the most intense stare Kael had ever seen in his life. Her hands clutched her book so tightly he could hear the spine crack from across the square. She ducked behind the pillar the instant his gaze met hers, but not before he caught the bright red flush on her cheeks.
Kael blinked.
Then turned back around and muttered to himself, "I hope she's not trying to assassinate me. Again."
Seret slid onto the bench beside him at that exact moment, holding a tiny cup of bitter-stone tea and wearing the thousand-yard-stare of someone who'd read one too many rune glossaries.
"Don't talk to me," she growled. "Everything is screaming. Especially me."
Kael nodded sympathetically. "Some girl might be plotting my murder."
Seret sipped. "Good. Hope she does it quick. I'm too tired for slow deaths today."
Then she paused. Lowered her cup. Turned her head.
"…What girl?"
Kael subtly tilted his chin in the direction of the pillar.
Seret's eyes followed. The moment they locked onto the black-haired girl, the girl squeaked audibly and vanished behind the marble again like a shy woodland creature. A blushing, swooning, visibly overwhelmed woodland creature.
Seret slowly turned back to Kael. Her voice became very, very flat.
"You've got a fan."
Kael winced. "It's probably a misunderstanding. Maybe she thinks I'm someone else. Like a… blood prince. Or someone who bathes more than twice a week."
"Kael. She's been staring at you for twenty minutes like she wants to write your last name next to hers on a death contract."
"That's weirdly specific."
"I know," she snapped, huffing.
From behind the pillar, a pink flower slowly levitated into view, wobbling through the air on a gentle arc toward Kael.
Kael looked at it. Then at Seret. Then back at the flower.
"I think she enchanted a gift."
Seret took the flower mid-air, sniffed it once, then tossed it off the side of the courtyard with the casual grace of someone disposing of a cursed artifact.
"I'm allergic," she said flatly.
Kael stared. "To… love?"
"To nonsense."
The girl peeked out again, horror dawning on her face as she realized her floral overture had been executed like an old sandwich.
Seret stared back, unblinking, like a cat preparing to murder a laser pointer.
The girl squeaked again and vanished into the hallways.
Kael looked over. "You're terrifying."
"She was plotting your kidnapping via bouquet. I did you a favor."
Kael rubbed his eyes. "I'm not even good-looking."
"Apparently, to emotionally unstable mana students, you are. You've got that whole 'brooding magical orphan' thing going on. Girls eat that up."
"I'm not brooding."
"You sleep with a dagger under your pillow and practice talking to shadows when you think I'm not listening."
"I'm being prepared!"
"You're being dramatic."
Kael gave up. "Fine. Let's say she is into me. It's not like anything's gonna come of it."
Seret narrowed her eyes. "It better not."
Kael blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Just. You know. If you catch a curse from kissing weird girls who live behind pillars, don't come crying to me."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
"Good."
A beat.
"Are we fighting?"
"I don't know, Kael! Are we!?"
Another beat. Then both of them burst out laughing, Kael snorting half-chewed bread as Seret wheezed into her teacup.
Behind them, the girl peeked out again… only to see Kael doubled over with laughter beside Seret, who looked like she'd just won the lottery and punched the host in the face for fun.
The girl's expression soured. She turned and vanished.
Seret leaned back smugly. "Another threat neutralized."
Kael coughed. "You're going to scare off everyone in this academy."
"Exactly."
They sat in the morning light, still aching from yesterday's studies, but grinning now, against all odds. Because as painful as school was, at least they had each other, and maybe a few thousand more awkward moments to look forward to.