Chapter 214: An Unspoken Understanding
Regulus woke the next morning sharp and rested.
He rose, washed, moved through his routine with the same unhurried precision as always. No trace of fatigue.
Hermes was up too. The boy had been staying up late since his first year, and this term's nightly training sessions with Regulus had hardened him into something durable. Enough stamina, no alarm needed. He dragged himself out of bed on his own.
The other two were a different story.
Alex had pushed himself to collapse the night before, stung by what he'd seen. Awake now, but aching everywhere, unable to get vertical.
Cuthbert hadn't slept well either. When Regulus brought the other two back to the dormitory, Cuthbert was still tossing in bed.
Walking through the door, Regulus had heard him making a strange sound. Not loud. The kind of laugh you tried to smother but couldn't, leaking out of your throat in weird little squeaks.
He'd tried to sit up and talk when he saw Regulus come in.
Last night had been his moment. Every eye in the room on him, every ear tuned to his voice. For a pure-blood heir, that kind of stage was rare, and it looked exactly like the image of adulthood he'd been carrying in his head.