Rector Voss saves me with a quick clap of his hands and a smile. "In any case. I've kept you here too long. Please," he gestures toward the door, helping me pull my chair out as I stand. "As before, I would ask that you still keep what we do here between us. For your safety, of course. But feel free to warn your friends about the Crucible. The legacies will already know it's coming, but it may be a helpful advantage for your fellow aspirants to know a few days before the announcement. You’ll have some time to gather your team in peace."

"Thank you," I say as I leave his office and step into the narrow hallway that leads back to the stairs.

As soon as the door closes, Raith seems to unfold from the shadows at the far end of the corridor. I notice the hard angles of his face and the tension in his jaw, the careful way his eyes scan me as if checking for injuries.

"You came," I whisper.

Raith waits for me to approach before he speaks. I find myself noticing how his breath slightly quickens when I move closer.

"Surprised?" His voice rumbles low in his chest.

"After last night… I guess I thought⁠—"

"That was a mistake," Raith says quickly.

I give a jerky nod of my head, even as a stab of pain punches through my chest at his words like a blade between my ribs, sharp and precise. "Yeah. I know."

"Good."

We head down the stairs single file with Raith in front because the stairs aren't wide enough for us to walk side by side. At the bottom, a few students pass in either direction, but nobody pays me much attention. Raith, on the other hand, is already known as the most deadly first-year aspirant across all affinities. Girls look at him with open lust. Guys look at him with envy and respect.

At best, they look at me with anger, because rumors about his "interest" in me have been spreading since the first week on campus. Some look to laugh because my elemental is a flying fish. Others occasionally ask me about the events at Mirror Lake, but those rumors are mostly old news, now, replaced with more recent events.

"Nessa…"

I lick my lips, heart suddenly racing just to hear my name from his mouth like a spell that only he knows how to cast. I feel like I'm leaning into him, drawn toward his warmth. Toward his heat. For a heartbeat, Raith's eyes drop to my lips, and the corridor seems to narrow until there's nothing but us. Then footsteps echo as another pair of students approaches. Raith steps back abruptly, expression shuttering closed.

"I told you it would be dangerous to know… certain things about me," Raith says. "But there is something I can tell you. Something that might be more dangerous to keep a secret."