Chapter 172: The Trial (29)
The courtyard was buzzing with low music and laughter, a rare moment of reprieve in a school known for surviving trials more than hosting parties. Floating crystal lanterns bobbed overhead, glowing faintly with the colors of their casters’ magic. Food tables lined the cobblestone edges, brimming with exotic dishes: fried starfruit slices that shimmered on the tongue, constellation-stamped mochi, and mugs of milky comet cider that fizzed slightly like champagne.
Verena sat back down on a velvet-cushioned bench beneath the arbor, watching as Sera challenged Clarina to a drinking contest with the intensity of a duel. Clarina, for her part, looked one sip away from a migraine, while Evelyn was already pulling out a scroll to chronicle "how not to flirt while drunk."
"They look like they’re doing okay," Beatrice said, leaning beside her, arms crossed and expression unreadable.
Verena exhaled, her fingers tapping lightly against her knees. "I wasn’t sure they would."
"You weren’t sure you would either," Beatrice added.
Verena winced. "Yeah. I’m working on that."
Beatrice tilted her head slightly. "And you’re always the one fixing everything for everyone else."
"Well, someone has to," Verena said, perhaps too quickly. "If I don’t, things go off the rails."
"But do you trust anyone else to take the reins?"
Verena paused.
The answer was no. She didn’t. Not entirely.