Chapter 95: Terms Written in Red Ink
The Magic Department's private study room smelled of old leather, chalk dust, and polished brass. Early afternoon sunlight came through the tall, arched windows, illuminating the floating dust motes and casting long shadows across the heavy mahogany table. Alex pushed the heavy oak door open, stepping inside to escape the lingering whispers that had followed him through the academy corridors ever since breakfast.
Emma Arlon sat at the center of the long table. Spread before her was a thick stack of parchment containing the Vanguard Stars' standard recruitment contract. She had a polished inkwell open and a red-feathered quill in her hand.
"How did you get a copy of that?" Alex asked, pulling out a chair and resting his bandaged right hand carefully on his knee.
"My father retains some of the best legal scholars in the capital," Emma said without looking up, dipping her quill into the red ink. "I requested the Arlon estate secure Vanguard's standard contract immediately after Sophie approached you. I will not let you bind the Edelhart name to a guild without reviewing the exact terms first."
She slid the parchment across the polished wood. Broad red lines struck through entire paragraphs.
"Look at clause seven, subsection three," Emma instructed, tapping the paper. "It grants the guild the right to claim magical discoveries, relics, or artifacts you find while under their sponsorship. It gives them far too much control over anything you discover."
The study room door clicked open. Alicia Raven walked in, carrying a leather-bound theory notebook. She stopped the moment she saw Emma, her dark eyes narrowing. The tension in the room immediately returned. The Arlon and Raven heirs disliked each other on the best of days, divided by noble rank and their very different family interests.
Alicia dropped the notebook on the table near Alex. "I corrected the compression formulas you got wrong in class," she said, before her sharp gaze caught the marked contract. She leaned over, her dark hair falling over her shoulder as she scanned the text.
"Your reading is flawed, Arlon," Alicia said, her tone sharp. "Clause seven doesn't strip ownership. It gives Vanguard the right of first refusal. If you remove the paragraph entirely, his discoveries could become subject to other guild claims under Imperial trade laws. You'd make things worse for him."
"I am reading the political implications," Emma said coldly, setting her quill down. "The Arlon family handles land rights, title disputes, and imperial decrees, not merchant contracts."
"And the Raven family handles contracts," Alicia fired back, pulling out a chair and sitting down uninvited. "You don't delete the clause to protect him. You amend it and force Vanguard to pay a heavy penalty if they exercise that right and then refuse the purchase."
Alex watched them. Instead of fighting over his time and attention, the two women were picking apart the Vanguard contract from completely different angles.
While they argued over the details, Alex reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out a small, folded piece of pale blue paper. It was a note Lily had sent through the dorm's discreet correspondence network. Take your monthly tonic before the next training block. Do not strain the heat fractures. He folded it away, appreciating the quiet reminder while the two nobles continued tearing apart the guild contract.
"Fine," Emma said, sliding the parchment and the red quill toward Alicia. "Write the merchant amendment. We still need to establish a legal shield against the Inquisition."
"I need a specific clause requiring Vanguard to provide their senior counsel if the Church investigates me for demonic contamination," Alex said, leaning forward slightly. "Specifically, contamination connected to any sanctioned academy activity."
"You expect the Church to move against you because of the Arc-Cannon incident?" Emma asked, her brow furrowing.
"I expect them to look for any convenient excuse," Alex corrected. "Vanguard wants me on their roster. They have the influence to make the Inquisition think twice before acting."
Emma nodded in understanding. "We must protect the Edelhart name. It cannot look like your family is desperately relying on a guild to prove your innocence. The clause will state that Vanguard is providing independent legal support while your condition is investigated."
Alicia caught another angle, her eyes narrowing as she dipped the quill. "Add severe financial penalties for medical information being leaked. If Vanguard brings in their own healers to examine you, they gain access to your private medical records. If that information reaches the public, the guild owes the Edelhart and Raven estates a fine large enough to hurt."
"Why the Raven estate?" Emma asked, her voice dangerously quiet.
"Because I am the one writing the penalty clause," Alicia replied smoothly, a faint, challenging smile on her lips.
Emma didn't argue. She simply watched as Alicia added the penalty to the margins.
Alicia leaned back in her chair, the red quill twirling between her fingers. Her dark eyes searched Emma's composed face. She had seen the torn button from Maya's blouse yesterday morning. She knew perfectly well that Alex was spending his nights with other women.
"Why are you doing this?" Alicia asked, genuine curiosity temporarily replacing her usual mockery. "You sit here drafting his political shields and fighting for his reputation, knowing exactly what he does behind closed doors. Why put this much effort into helping a man who openly spends time with other women?"
Emma stopped sorting the remaining pages. She carefully aligned the edges of the parchment. When she finally looked up, she didn't raise her voice.
"Because Alex belongs to my future," Emma said. The frantic jealousy that usually marked her outbursts was completely absent. She looked directly into Alicia's eyes, her gaze cold and absolute. "He is my legal fiancé. Protecting his position and his reputation matters far more to me than winning one petty argument about who he slept with last night. I am going to be his Duchess. And a Duchess does not burn her own estate to the ground just because she is angry."
Alicia blinked, genuinely unsettled. It was the first time she had seen Emma think beyond her immediate jealousy. The Arlon heir was choosing to protect the future she wanted, even if that meant accepting rivals as long as her position remained secure.
Before Alicia could formulate a response, the heavy oak door swung open.
Sophie stepped into the study room, her guildmaster coat trailing behind her. She looked at the three students, taking in the tense silence, the open inkwell, and the heavily marked parchment.
"I was told I could find you here, Edelhart," Sophie said, walking toward the table. She looked down at the contract Emma and Alicia had heavily marked. "Let me see what you've done to my standard agreement."
Emma slid the parchment toward the guildmaster.
Sophie picked it up, her eyes moving across the red lines, the added protections, and the large financial penalties Alicia had written into the margins. The room was completely silent.
Then Sophie threw her head back and laughed. It was a loud, genuine sound of amusement.
"The absolute audacity of you three," Sophie said, shaking her head. She pulled a sleek silver pen from her inner pocket and bent over the table. She signed her name at the bottom of the amended, conditional draft. "The conditional version is signed. It activates only if you defeat Ivan Baker in the final. But you need to know something else. That legal shield you just drafted? You are going to need it sooner than you think."
A sharp knock interrupted her. An Academy courier stepped nervously into the room, holding a formal notice sealed with heavy white wax.
"The Imperial Inquisition didn't just request the Arc-Cannon record," Sophie said, pointing at the letter. "They're escalating."
Alex broke the wax seal and unfolded the heavy parchment. He read the single paragraph, his jaw tightening, before sliding the paper to the center of the table so Emma and Alicia could see it.
An Inquisitorial observer would officially attend the tournament.