{CAROLINE}
Where had Iris gone?
The question gnawed at me the moment I returned to the dormitories and found her bed untouched, her things precisely as she'd left them.
It was nearly curfew.
An uneasy chill crept up my spine as I stared at the darkened corridor, the silence pressing heavier than the stone walls themselves.
The academy never truly slept, but there were moments—like this—when it seemed to hold its breath, as though waiting for something dreadful to unfold.
I lifted my gaze toward the narrow window at the end of the wall. Night had already claimed the sky, velvet-black and starless, the moon half-veiled behind drifting clouds.
The lanterns along the walkways below shimmered faintly, enchanted flames casting pale halos against the encroaching dark.
I exhaled slowly and squared my shoulders.
I was a noble lady. I had been raised with posture straight and chin high, taught etiquette with one hand and survival with the other.
