When class finally ended, Aliyah was ninety percent sure Advanced Fire Magic had taken five years off her life.
Not because of Professor Vaeric. His lecture had been the usual mix of impossible standards, controlled terror, and threats about incinerating anyone who confused raw power with technique.
No, the real problem had been Scarlett.
Scarlett, who had spent the last ten minutes of class close enough that Aliyah had become deeply aware of every inch of space between them.
Students started filing out of the room in noisy clusters, talking about practice drills and assignments, but Aliyah stayed at her desk a moment longer to organize her notes.
That was a lie. She was not organizing anything. She was trying to reassemble her nervous system.
Scarlett did not seem to have that problem.
She stretched in her seat, one arm rising over her head, and the motion pulled her shirt just enough for Aliyah to catch a glimpse of more tattooed ink along her side.
Black lines, sharp curves, something that looked almost like flame mixed with scales.
Aliyah looked away so fast she nearly gave herself neck damage.
"You alright?" Scarlett asked, far too amused.
"Perfect," Aliyah said, which was the sort of answer only given by people who were absolutely not perfect.
Scarlett stood, gathering her things with an easy lack of urgency. Up close, she was still taller than almost everyone in the room, all lean muscle and rebel confidence. Aliyah hated how much she liked that.
"Well," Scarlett said, slinging her bag over one shoulder, "you were supposed to explain what I missed."
Aliyah rose too, clutching her notebook like it might save her. "I can give you a summary."
Scarlett smiled. "A summary. Very academic. Very safe."
Aliyah narrowed her eyes. "Do you flirt with everyone like this?"
Scarlett considered that. "No."
That should have been reassuring.
It was not reassuring.
They walked out of the classroom together and into the corridor, where the afternoon light poured through the tall enchanted windows and painted shifting patterns across the floor.
Students passed them in waves. More than one person glanced at Scarlett.
A few looked at Aliyah too, and then at Scarlett, and Aliyah got the deeply embarrassing impression that the whole hallway had already decided something was happening.
Nothing was happening.
Probably.
Scarlett walked beside her at a lazy pace, hands in her pockets. "So. Summary."
Aliyah forced herself to focus on the words coming out of her own mouth.
"The first month was mostly restraint and control. Vaeric doesn't care how much fire you can produce if you can't shape it properly. Then we moved into layered ignition, heat concentration, and maintaining external flame without wasting energy."
Scarlett listened, and that alone surprised Aliyah a little. She had expected boredom, or at least the look of someone pretending to listen because they liked the speaker.
Instead Scarlett actually paid attention, eyes sharp, asking the occasional question that proved she understood fast.
"That explains the compression exercise near the end," Scarlett said. "He wants control before expansion."
Aliyah looked at her. "Yes."
Scarlett smirked. "You sound surprised."
"I thought maybe you were just here to look intimidating."
"I can do two things at once."
Aliyah huffed a laugh before she could stop herself.
Damn it.
Scarlett glanced sideways at her. "There it is again."
"What?"
"That laugh. You look less like you want to stab me when you do that."
"I don't want to stab you."
Scarlett lifted one purple brow. "Not even a little?"
Aliyah thought about it. "Maybe a little."
"Fair."
They reached the staircase leading down toward the central courtyard, and the crowd thinned enough that conversation became easier.
Aliyah should have said goodbye. She should have gone to the library, or back to her dormitory, or literally anywhere else.
Instead she heard herself ask, "So why transfer here in the middle of the term?"
Scarlett took the stairs with the kind of loose confidence that made every movement look deliberate. "Better program. Better combat training. Better connections."
"Connections?"
Scarlett shrugged one shoulder. "I want to become a royal guard."
That caught Aliyah's attention.
She slowed half a step. "A royal guard?"
"Yeah."
Aliyah had not expected that answer. Scarlett looked like she belonged in a back-alley brawl, a rebellion, or on a wanted poster. Not standing at attention in a palace with polished armor and ceremonial discipline.
Scarlett noticed the look on her face and laughed under her breath. "I know. I don't exactly scream royal manners."
"No," Aliyah admitted. "You really don't."
Scarlett looked almost pleased. "Good. Means I still have a soul."
Aliyah laughed again, properly this time.
It startled both of them a little.
Scarlett's expression softened for one brief second, like she had not expected that sound either.
Then she said, "But royal guards earn a lot. More than most combat positions. Enough to never worry about money again if you do it right."
Aliyah blinked. That answer was blunt enough to be funny, but there was something honest under it too.
"You picked one of the hardest careers possible," she said, "because it pays well?"
Scarlett glanced ahead, jaw shifting slightly. "Because I'm good at fighting, good at fire magic, and I'm not stupid enough to pretend passion feeds you."
That was not the kind of answer people at the academy usually gave. Most noble students talked about honor, prestige, legacy, duty. Even the ones lying at least had the courtesy to dress it up.
Scarlett just said money.
Aliyah found that weirdly refreshing.
"You say that like everyone else here is an idiot," she said.
"Most of them are," Scarlett replied. "No offense."
"I'm included in most of them."
Scarlett's mouth curved. "Not from what I've seen."
That should not have made Aliyah's heart trip. It was one sentence. One simple sentence.
Her body, tragically, disagreed.
They stepped out into the courtyard. The afternoon air was warmer now, golden light falling across the stone paths and trimmed hedges.
Scarlett leaned against the low edge of a fountain as if she had nowhere more urgent to be. "What about you?"
Aliyah shifted her notebook in her hands. "What about me?"
"What are you aiming for?"
Aliyah hesitated.
There were a dozen acceptable answers to that question. Good ones, respectable ones.
Instead she said, "I'm still figuring it out."
Scarlett did not laugh.
"Good," she said. "Most people who claim they have it figured out are full of shit."
Aliyah stared at her.
There was something deeply unfair about a woman looking like that and also being unexpectedly easy to talk to.
It made things dangerous.
"So you want money," Aliyah said, because it felt safer to go back to teasing. "That's your grand dream."
Scarlett smirked. "I want a lot of money. Very specifically. Enough to buy good weapons, good boots, and a house where no one can tell me what to do."
Aliyah tilted her head. "That's actually kind of charming."
"Careful," Scarlett said. "You sound interested."
Aliyah rolled her eyes, but she could feel heat creeping up her neck. "I am interested. In the academic sense."
Scarlett laughed, low and rich and absolutely infuriating.
"You really do hide behind formal words when you're nervous."
"I am not nervous."
Scarlett pushed off the fountain and stepped a little closer.
Not enough to be improper.
Just enough to matter.
"You're doing it again," she said.
Aliyah held her ground. That alone deserved applause. "Doing what?"
"Trying to look calm while your eyes give everything away."
For one terrible second, Aliyah forgot how to answer.
Scarlett's mismatched gaze dropped briefly to her mouth, then rose again.
It was quick.
Tiny.
Maybe not even real.
But Aliyah saw it, and suddenly her pulse was beating like it had something to prove.
From somewhere across the courtyard came a familiar female voice, loud with disbelief.
"Absolutely not."
Aliyah turned.
Kaelith stood near the archway leading from the west tower, one hand on her hip, grey eyes fixed on them with the expression of a woman watching fate write nonsense in real time.
Beside her, Neris held two books against his chest and looked less shocked than resigned, which was somehow even worse.
Kaelith pointed at Scarlett, then at Aliyah.
"No," she called. "I can see the poor decision forming from here."
Scarlett glanced at Aliyah. "Friends?"
Aliyah sighed through her nose. "Unfortunately, family."