Chapter 102: Shades of Family
Shade walked back to the second building, his right hand jammed deep into his pocket, his knuckles white against the dark fabric. His expression was grim, a mask of tightly controlled tension, as if he were bracing himself to face some devastating news he desperately wished to avoid.
Each step was heavy, deliberate, echoing faintly in the quiet academic halls as he moved towards the farthest end of the second building—to the very room where chaos had reigned just hours before.
Shade paused outside the door, inhaling deeply, drawing in a shaky breath that did little to calm the frantic drumbeat against his ribs. The cool air seemed to scrape at the raw edges of his nerves. He pushed the door open, the heavy wood groaning softly on its hinges, revealing the familiar, comfortable chaos of the common room he shared with Eirin.
"Did you enjoy your little stroll with your girlfriend?"
Trixtan’s voice, dripping with playful insinuation, cut through the tense silence, shattering the fragile calm Shade had tried to construct. Trixtan sat sprawled on a plush, emerald-green sofa, a half-eaten apple balanced precariously on his knee, his usual carefree grin plastered across his face.
Shade’s gaze, sharp and cold, pinned him. "Cut the crap and just tell me what I need to know." Shade said, his voice flat, devoid of its usual sarcastic bite. Jokes held no place in the heavy atmosphere pressing down on him. "Why did you call me here?" His eyes darted around the room, noting the closed blinds, the subtle shimmer of a privacy charm, confirming the gravity of the meeting.
Trixtan smiled, a relaxed, almost serene expression that belied the tension in the room. He patted the vacant cushion beside him on the sofa, a silent invitation to sit. Shade, weary of the unspoken theatrics, of the constant emotional assault of the day, walked over and dropped onto the sofa without another word. The plush cushions sank beneath his weight, offering a deceptive comfort.
"I’m just trying to calm your nerves," Trixtan said, his voice dropping a notch, the playfulness receding. He reached out and patted Shade’s shoulder, a gesture of unexpected comfort, a rare display of quiet understanding between them. "What I’m about to say is something that I am not allowed to tell anyone but the Queen and the elders. And now, you."
Shade’s jaw tightened, his gaze fixed on Trixtan, an unspoken command for him to continue, to get to the point. His nerves were anything but calm. The very air around him seemed to thicken, heavy with impending revelation.
Trixtan sighed, a long, drawn-out sound that seemed to carry the weight of a secret. "You know I was sent to the Infirmus to watch over the movements of the æons, right?" Shade gave a terse nod, his answer clipped.