I have been shouted at by a Duke.
By a war captain.
By two beastkin clan elders, one of whom was holding an axe at the time.
And by Penelope Declair, who is worse than all of them combined and does it at a volume nobody else can hear.
None of that prepares you for a room where everyone is being reasonable.
The summons came just after sunrise.
I had fallen asleep roughly an hour before that.
I want it recorded that I had been awake for twenty-six hours, which is a personal record I had no interest in setting and intend never to approach again.
"Alash."
"No."
"They've called an inquiry."
"Still no."
Penelope pulled the blanket off me.
Under any other circumstance this would have constituted an act of war.
"It's about James."
I sat up.
They did not use the Headmaster's office.
That was the first thing that told me how serious it was.
The office is where Theoran Vale speaks to people.
The room they used instead was on the second floor of the Administrative Wing.
