Chapter 22: The girl behind the door
Voices tangled — shock, questions, speculation. The sound was a storm.
But above it all, in the shadowed tier of the VIP section, the air was still. Heavier.
Power watched in silence.
Several figures sat behind the one-way tinted veil, high above the student crowd. Only a handful knew they were even present.
At the center sat the Headmaster.
White hair, slicked back. His uniform sharp, his posture unreadable. His right eye—always closed. Some said sealed. Some said stolen. His left eye, however, tracked Kael precisely. Not his movement—his meaning.
"He’s changed," the Headmaster said finally, voice low and level. "Or perhaps he was always like this. Just waiting."
To his right, a woman in Federation robes tilted her head.
"Either way," she murmured,
"he invoked the Myth. Protocol or not, we would’ve allowed it. A godborn clause overrides everything."
A third figure gave a short, dry chuckle.
"Doesn’t matter if he wins. The moment he stepped on that stage, the board stopped being in control."