Arthur had been called to the Headmaster's office before, but never like this.
Eva Lopez sat behind her desk with her hands folded, saying nothing. The late afternoon light from the tall windows fell across her navy blue hair and the polished wood between them, and her violet eyes rested on him with a patience that was worse than shouting. Rank 11. One of the eleven Radiant-rankers in the world. She never needed to raise her voice to fill a room, and today she wasn't bothering to hold her presence back. It pressed on the air like the stillness before a storm.
Arthur sat straight and let it press.
He was still in his field uniform. There had been no time to change between the warp gate and the summons—scorch marks streaked one sleeve, and a fine grey film of miasma dust still clung to the creases of his collar.
"Tell me what happened," Eva said at last. "All of it."
So he did.
