ShadowBound: The Need For Power

The classroom settled into a silence that felt too deliberate to be natural.

Once the reports were collected and displayed through the magic screen hovering before the half-circle of desks, even the students who usually found small ways to distract themselves became still. Tactical Espionage had always carried a different atmosphere from the other classes, but that afternoon, it felt especially sharp.

Seven second-years sat beneath the gaze of Lady Seraphina Vale and Professor Veylan Kaine, waiting as their work was not merely graded, but exposed. In most classes, a report could be read privately and marked with corrections. In this class, apparently, embarrassment was part of the curriculum.

The only disruptions came from Charlotte.

She sat beside Liam, which meant he had become the unfortunate recipient of every small noise she made while fighting boredom. First came a quiet shift in her chair. Then the faint tap of one nail against the side of her desk. Then a sigh that was soft enough to pretend it had not happened, yet dramatic enough to make it obvious she wanted someone to notice.

A few seconds later, she leaned slightly toward Liam as if preparing to whisper something that would almost certainly not be useful.

Liam kept his gaze forward.

Charlotte tapped once more, slower this time, as if testing his patience through rhythm alone. "This feels like the kind of silence people die in," she murmured.

Liam did not look at her. "Then stay quiet."

"How cold of you."

"Accurate of me."

Charlotte’s lips curved, and she opened her mouth again, but before she could continue, Seraphina’s voice drifted from behind them.

"Miss Raven."

Charlotte stilled.

Seraphina walked behind the half-circle arrangement with the slow elegance of someone strolling through a garden rather than a classroom. Her hands were clasped behind her back, her midnight-green hair falling smoothly down one side, and her voice carried that lovely, velvety warmth Charlotte seemed to enjoy far more than was healthy.

"Do be calm while we review everyone’s reports," Seraphina said. "Otherwise, I may have to ask Professor Kaine to give you a task to occupy that restless little mind of yours."

Charlotte’s smile faltered by a fraction.

Her eyes moved toward Kaine.

Professor Kaine leaned against the wall on the far side of the sitting arrangement, arms folded across his chest, expression as cold and unreadable as stone beneath winter shade. He had not moved since the reports began. He did not need to. The possibility of him being involved in anything was usually enough to make students reconsider their choices.

Charlotte settled back in her seat at once. "I will remain perfectly silent, Lady Seraphina."

Seraphina’s smile deepened. "Wise girl."

Liam glanced at Charlotte from the corner of his eye.

Charlotte gave him a look that clearly said she would rather chew through boring reports than be handed one of Kaine’s tasks.

Liam could not blame her.

Seraphina clapped her hands once, the sound light but precise. "Good. Now then."

Before the half-circle of desks, the large magical screen glowed in the air, blue and translucent, its surface filled with neat lines of written text. At the top of the report was the name of the student who had written it, along with the selected target and a brief summary of their observation period.

The script was large enough for everyone to read clearly, though Liam suspected Seraphina had made it that way less for convenience and more to ensure no student could hide from the quality of their own work.

Seraphina’s eyes lifted to the name. "Our first offering belongs to Mr. Halven Marr."

Halven, seated two chairs away from Charlotte, straightened slightly as if bracing for impact.

Seraphina began reading in silence, and the rest of the class followed. The first report described Halven’s observation of a cafeteria supply worker, focusing primarily on the worker’s morning routes, meal preparation duties, repeated interactions with kitchen staff, and the timing of food deliveries to separate dining sections. Liam read through the first few paragraphs with detached interest. The target was not terrible. The execution was.

Seraphina made it only halfway down the screen before she sighed.

"Mr. Marr," she said, her tone soft enough to sound almost sympathetic, "you spent seven days observing a person whose daily route directly affects half the students in this academy, and somehow, you managed to learn less than a hungry first-year could discover by standing near the bread trays."

A few students went very still.

Halven’s face reddened.

Seraphina continued walking slowly behind the desks. "You noted that your target enters the dining hall before dawn. Very good. I imagine the kitchen staff will be stunned to learn they begin work before breakfast." She lifted one finger lightly. "You noted that he carries crates, speaks to other workers, and occasionally appears tired. Astounding. A man doing physical labor becomes tired. This is the sort of insight that topples kingdoms."

Charlotte’s lips pressed together, clearly fighting laughter.

Liam stared at the screen, expression unchanged.

Seraphina looked toward Kaine. "Professor?"

Kaine’s eyes remained on the report. "He observed movement without purpose. No assessment of access. No note of trust relationships. No indication of where the target could be intercepted, influenced, replaced, delayed, or followed without drawing attention. The report is a schedule, not intelligence."

Halven looked as if he wished the floor would accept him.

Seraphina smiled sweetly. "There we are. A schedule with aspirations. Still, you did at least choose someone with potential value, even if you tried very hard not to use it. Twenty-three out of fifty."

Halven lowered his gaze.

Seraphina flicked her fingers.

The blue screen rippled, and the next report appeared.

"Miss Lora Vance," Seraphina said. "Let us see if your victim was luckier than Mr. Marr’s."

Lora’s report focused on a third-year student who trained near the western sparring grounds at consistent hours. The target had been chosen for rank, visibility, and combat skill. Liam read the first few lines and already saw the problem. Lora had observed someone impressive because impressive people felt important, but she had failed to account for the fact that impressive people were also harder to observe quietly.

Seraphina seemed to reach the same conclusion almost immediately.

"You chose a third-year duelist with strong sensory discipline and then wrote three separate paragraphs complaining that he was difficult to approach," Seraphina said, voice warm with disappointment. "That is not an obstacle, Miss Vance. That is the consequence of your choice."

Lora stiffened.

Kaine added, "You were noticed on the second day."

Lora’s eyes widened. "Professor, I—"

"You changed route on the third day," Kaine said. "Changed distance on the fourth. Avoided the western sparring grounds on the fifth. Your report does not mention why. Either you were noticed, or you panicked because you believed you were noticed. Both should have been included."

Silence pressed down over the room.

Seraphina looked delighted in the gentlest possible way. "A lesson in honesty, then. If your target catches your scent, do not perfume the corpse and call it flowers. Thirty out of fifty, because your target was at least difficult and your failure was educational."

The screen changed again.

The next student had observed a dormitory attendant. The report was better. It included movement patterns, door access, how often students ignored attendants carrying laundry or maintenance supplies, and which hours allowed the target to move through residential halls with minimal question.

Seraphina gave sharper praise this time, though she still cut into the weaker parts with a smile.

"This," she said, tapping the air beneath one paragraph, "is actually useful. Door access, repeated presence, assumed harmlessness. Very good. But then you waste half a page describing the attendant’s mood as ’tired but kind.’ I am not saying kindness is useless, but unless you intend to weaponize it, do not make me read about it like a diary entry."

Kaine’s critique was brief. "No escape consideration. If discovered in the residential wing, your excuse is weak."

Seraphina nodded. "Still, a respectable improvement. Thirty-six out of fifty."

The fourth report did not survive nearly as well.

Seraphina read the first few lines, paused, and then gave a soft laugh.

The student who wrote it visibly shrank in his chair.

"Oh, my," Seraphina said, one hand rising delicately to her mouth. "You observed a classmate because she was, and I quote, ’frequently visible and easy to find.’"

Charlotte failed immediately.

A laugh slipped out of her, low and delighted. She covered it far too late, eyes shining with wicked amusement.

Seraphina looked almost proud of her.

The student’s ears reddened.

Seraphina continued, savoring each word. "You followed someone easy to find, observed that she attended the same classes she was scheduled to attend, ate lunch with her friends, returned to her dormitory, and studied in the library twice. This is not espionage, Mr. Crell. This is noticing that another student continues to exist."

Charlotte made another sound, this time turning it into a cough that fooled no one.

Liam did not look at her. If he did, she would become worse.

Kaine’s voice came flatly from the wall. "No value. No method worth noting. No risk assessment. No reason the target matters. If this was done in the field, your superior would assume you were avoiding work."

Seraphina sighed as though truly wounded. "Fourteen out of fifty. I am being generous because you turned in parchment rather than a blank apology."

Charlotte leaned back in her chair, shoulders shaking faintly with contained laughter. "That was brutal," she whispered.

Liam said, "You were told to stay quiet."

"I am appreciating the lesson."

"You are laughing."

"That is how I appreciate some lessons."

Seraphina’s gaze slid toward them, and Charlotte instantly faced forward with saintly innocence.

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