Chapter 17 – Beyond the Bow
As they left the cafeteria, William's companions gathered around him, laughing, joking, their shoulders relaxing after a heavy meal. The tension of the past hours seemed, for a moment, forgotten.
"So, now what?" Thom asked, stretching with a satisfied groan. "Still a while before Language class."
"I had plans," Dixon said with a sly grin. "Those second-year sisters, the ones by the fountain this morning... one of them said she wanted to 'talk'. And you know what that means."
"Talk?" Theo barked a laugh. "If that blonde wants to 'talk' to you, then I'm the heir to the King of Drakenwald! You sure it wasn't the redhead? Now she's hot..."
"The redhead's mine," Cedric interrupted, crossing his arms. "She's got more curves than a serpent and a mouth that—"
"Can we stop thinking with our dicks for five minutes?" William's voice cut through like a blade—dry, direct.
The four of them fell silent. William stared at them. There was no mockery or anger in his eyes—only a cold warning.
"Do you really not get it? If we fail the exams—if we don't make it to the top ranks—it's not just expulsion. They'll execute us. Us. Our families. There are no second chances. The only reason the nobles haven't wiped us out already is because we're inside this damned school. But once we're out, if we don't make it into the army, if we don't serve... we're dead."
Silence. A gust of wind drifted between them, as if even the air had chosen to remain quiet.