ShadowBound: The Need For Power

For one breath, Lucian could not even form a thought clearly. Everything inside him went still and then rushed at once, colliding too quickly to become anything useful. His fingers tightened around the folder until the edges bent. His mouth parted slightly before he forced it shut. The coldness in Liam’s voice made it worse, because there was no drama in it, no cruelty for the sake of performance. He stated the secret plainly, almost clinically, as though describing a weather report.

’How?’ Lucian thought.

That was the first real shape that formed.

’How does he know that?’

His mind immediately began searching for explanations. Edith. Someone from home. A record. A loose conversation. A noble student who had recognized the Kellor name and spoken too freely. Chris. No, not Chris. Chris was many things, but he was not stupid enough to throw away leverage like that. Unless someone around Chris had heard something. Unless Liam had dug into him. Unless this was what Tactical Espionage students did in their spare time, tearing open private lives like sealed letters.

’No,’ Lucian told himself. ’No, he could be guessing.’

The thought came quickly because he needed it to.

A lucky guess. A cruel assumption based on his position beside Chris. Plenty of lesser nobles attached themselves to higher-ranking students for protection and advantage. Debt was common enough among smaller houses trying to appear more stable than they were. If Liam had guessed close enough and Lucian reacted, then the truth would become his own fault.

’If I stay calm, he will not know if it is true,’ Lucian thought. ’If I show nothing, he will doubt it.’

But even as he formed the thought, it weakened.

Because Liam’s words had been too accurate.

Barely mid-class noble. Generation-ending debt. Aid. Disgraceful family. Those were not broad guesses. They were not the kind of insults thrown randomly to see what wounded. They had shape. They had roots. The worst part was his mother. Liam had not mentioned her yet, but the whole truth lived close enough that Lucian could feel it approaching. His family’s debt was not just political embarrassment. It was illness, unpaid obligations, failed trade agreements, desperate loans, and a household held together by pride that had become thinner every year.

Lucian’s breathing remained steady only because he forced it to.

Inside, panic began opening its claws.

Liam watched it happen.

He saw the delayed blink, the tightened grip, the faint shift in Lucian’s throat as he swallowed. Lucian was better at composing himself than many students would have been, but not good enough. Not against someone already expecting the reaction.

Liam spoke again. "I could not care less what your life is about, or how important it is to you that people do not know."

Lucian’s eyes sharpened with anger, but the fear beneath it remained.

"All I want to know is whether Chris has been doing anything privately to oppose or disrupt Sheila’s hold on our peers," Liam said. "If you can help with that, this ends here. If you cannot, then you should know you will become the talk of the academy, and your family will become the talk of the streets."

Lucian’s face tightened.

Liam’s voice remained cold. "Especially your poor mother."

That did it.

The last words landed in a place Lucian could not protect quickly enough.

For several seconds, he said nothing. His thoughts were a snarl of duty, fear, pride, and helpless anger. Keeping his secret mattered. It mattered more than most things. He had spent years trying to keep the name Kellor from becoming a joke spoken in dining halls and noble gatherings. He had endured Chris because being close to him created possibility.

Aid. Protection. A chance for his family to survive without selling what little remained of their dignity. Loyalty to Chris had been drilled into him not by affection, but by necessity. Stay close. Be useful. Do not anger him. Do not lose the connection. No matter what, do not lose the connection.

But Liam had said his mother.

His mother, whose tired smile had become thinner in the last letters sent from home. His mother, who still wrote as if everything would be fine if Lucian simply did well, stayed respectable, and secured the right ties. His mother, who would become a whispering point among people who enjoyed noble ruin like entertainment if the academy learned the truth and carried it beyond these walls.

Lucian’s choice became clear because one option threatened Chris.

The other threatened home.

He looked away first.

That alone felt like defeat.

"Chris has not really been trying to involve himself with Sheila, you, or your group lately," Lucian said, voice low.

Liam did not move. "That is not an answer."

"It is," Lucian said, forcing himself to look back. "He has been quieter. Less direct. He has not been trying to pull people away from her in the open, and he has not been confronting anyone around you. Not like before."

Liam’s eyes narrowed faintly.

That sounded suspicious because peace from someone like Chris did not necessarily mean peace. It could mean restraint, distraction, or preparation.

Lucian seemed to understand that and continued, though each word looked like it cost him. "Recently, though, he has found some kind of new spark. I do not know how else to put it. Whatever it is, it has something to do with dealing with Sheila. Somehow."

Liam studied him. "What reignited him?"

"I am not sure."

"Try again."

Lucian’s mouth tightened. "I said I am not sure."

Liam’s stare remained cold enough to make the corridor feel smaller.

Lucian exhaled through his nose, frustration and fear mixing in his expression. "He has been meeting someone privately lately. I think it might be that person."

"Who?"

"I do not know."

Liam’s face gave nothing away, but the disbelief was clear enough without expression.

Lucian noticed and stiffened. "I am telling the truth."

"Convenient."

"It is the truth," Lucian said, sharper this time. "I have not seen their face clearly. Chris does not bring them around the rest of us. He leaves alone, comes back alone, and afterward he acts like he knows something he did not know before."

"What do you know about this person?"

Lucian hesitated.

Liam’s eyes did not leave him.

Lucian looked briefly toward the empty stretch of corridor, then lowered his voice further. "Whoever it is, they are somehow close to Sheila."

Liam’s expression shifted by almost nothing.

But internally, the irritation sharpened.

Lucian continued, "Chris has too much information on her lately. More than he used to. Not public things. Small things. Who she is speaking with. What students are starting to listen to her. What responsibilities Isolde Thorne has been giving her. Things that would be hard to know unless someone close to Sheila, or close to someone near Sheila, was feeding him details."

Liam’s mind began moving immediately.

Sheila’s circle was not large, but it was not small either. Ariana, Charlotte, Dylan, Maxwell, Asher, Edith if that conversation progressed, Isolde through student president duties, other second-years who had begun seeking guidance from her, Crescent students who still watched her because of her title, Tempest students who watched Chris and Sheila both, staff, aides, and anyone nearby during casual conversations. Too many paths. Too many possible leaks. Some could be intentional. Some could be careless. Someone could be reporting directly to Chris, or Chris could be using a third person to gather fragments without the source realizing where they ended up.

The problem had widened.

That irritated Liam more than the cold.

’Of course,’ he thought. ’It became bigger.’

He had only wanted to know whether Chris was planning to become a nuisance during the practical exam. A simple confirmation. A simple pressure point. Now there was an unknown person close to Sheila feeding Chris information, intentionally or not, and that meant Sheila’s leadership issue had gained another layer before Liam could even finish being annoyed by the first one.

Once again, despite his best efforts, the matter had moved closer to him.

Liam asked, "That is all you know?"

Lucian nodded once, stiffly. "Yes."

"You are sure?"

"Yes."

For a few seconds, Liam only watched him.

Lucian held still beneath the stare, though the tension in his shoulders made clear he wanted to be anywhere else. Liam considered pressing further, but there was nothing useful in breaking him more here. Lucian had already given what he had, and the fear in him was too sharp to be entirely false. If he was lying, it was not about knowing the person’s identity. It was about something smaller. Something Liam could deal with later if needed.

Liam sighed.

Then he turned and walked past Lucian in the direction he had come from.

His annoyance had multiplied since arriving at the Magic Department. He had gained information, yes, but information had a nasty habit of becoming work. Now he had to consider Chris again, Sheila again, Isolde’s proximity to Sheila, Edith’s possible role, and the unknown source giving Chris details. It was exactly the kind of layered inconvenience he had been trying to avoid.

Behind him, Lucian turned.

"Liam," he said, voice tight.

Liam did not stop.

Lucian took one step after him, then hesitated. "Are you going to say anything about—"

"Your family’s shortcomings have nothing to do with me," Liam said without turning. "If you think you want the students to know, that is your problem."

Lucian fell silent.

The words were not kind, but they were also not exposure. Liam had gotten what he wanted. For now, that was enough. Whether Lucian found comfort in that was not Liam’s concern.

Liam continued down the corridor, his coat shifting around him as he moved toward the exit that would take him back into the cold academy grounds. The thought of stepping outside again made his jaw tighten, and the thought of the situation waiting ahead only worsened it.

"Walking lapse in judgment," he muttered under his breath, though whether he meant Lucian, Chris, the unknown informant, the academy, or the entire day was unclear even to him.

He reached the end of the corridor and turned toward the outer doors, carrying with him one useful answer and several new irritations he had never asked for.

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