The Academy was finally breathing again.
Rumors had cooled, threats had retreated, and the staff moved with a restored sense of order. But for Evelyn, calm was only a thin veil—one that barely held back the storm inside her.
The silver pendant lay warm against her collarbone, hidden beneath her blouse, as if her skin remembered the boy who'd once fixed it. She hadn't spoken to Alexander since she'd found it.
She didn't need to.
She felt him watching her. Always watching.
Especially now.
Especially with Caelan lingering closer.
Caelan found her near the courtyard fountain that afternoon. She'd meant to avoid him. She didn't succeed.
"Still hiding behind books, Evelyn?" he teased, flashing that lazy, golden grin that never quite reached his eyes when Alexander's name came up.
She closed the journal she hadn't really been reading. "I could ask you the same, Caelan. You never used to hover."
He laughed, stretching beside her like he had every right. "Hovering is such a harsh word. I just enjoy the view."
She arched a brow. "The view is taken."
"Not claimed." His voice lowered. "Not yet."
Before she could reply, the air shifted.
He was there.
Alexander stood just beyond the fountain's edge, the afternoon sun catching the sharp lines of his profile. His gaze was unreadable, but Evelyn felt her spine straighten. Felt her pulse quicken.
Caelan turned slightly, his expression cooling with perfect ease.
"Well," he said softly, "it's always like this, isn't it? You arrive, and suddenly she forgets I exist."
Alexander didn't flinch. "She never forgot you. She just outgrew you."
Evelyn's eyes widened.
Caelan rose slowly, brushing invisible dust from his sleeve. "Funny. You weren't even part of the picture then. Yet you act like you've always belonged in it."
Alexander stepped forward. "Because I have."
Silence.
Tension spun in the air like glass on the edge of shattering.
But Evelyn stood, stepping between them—not to block, but to anchor.
"Enough," she said gently, looking at them both. "I won't be the reason either of you act like this."
Alexander didn't argue.
Caelan, for once, said nothing.
And for the first time in days, Evelyn felt the balance shift—not between them, but within her.
Because the truth was no longer waiting to be discovered.
It was waiting to be chosen.