Cassian pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
The room was wide, elegant, and quiet in the way only powerful rooms ever were. A long table of dark wood sat at the center. Tall windows let in the last pale gold of the afternoon, and everything from the chairs to the silver ornaments felt expensive without needing to show off.
Aldric Vermond sat at the head of the table. He did not need to speak to dominate the room. His presence was already there, a heavy one, the kind that made people lower their voices without realizing it. Selene sat at his right, her expression calm in that cold way that made warmth feel almost impossible. Aurelia was farther down, one leg crossed over the other, looking bored enough to suggest she would rather be anywhere else. Lucien stood near the windows, relaxed, hands in his pockets, as if the room naturally arranged itself around him.
And Lysandra was already beside them.
That was the first thing Cassian noticed. Not that she had entered before him. Not that she had taken a place without hesitation. It was how natural it looked.
Aldric's gaze settled on him. "Sit."
"Yes father." Cassian obeyed, his slime bouncing quietly after him before stopping by his chair.
Lucien's eyes dropped to it, and a faint smile curved at his mouth. "It still follows you everywhere. I almost admire that kind of loyalty."
Cassian pulled out his chair. "Someone has to, if even my family can't do it."
Lucien let out a soft laugh. "You do make a compelling point."
Selene's gaze flicked to the slime for half a second, then away again. "Must it be here?"
"It's contracted to me," Cassian said. "So yes."
Aurelia rested her cheek against one hand. "I don't think Mother was asking whether it was physically possible."
Cassian looked at her. "Good to know you felt like joining in."
"I didn't," Aurelia said. "I'm avoiding it. There's a difference."
Lucien smiled wider at that, clearly entertained.
Aldric raised a hand once, and the room stilled immediately. His eyes stayed on Cassian. "I did not call you here to listen to pointless remarks." His voice was low, controlled. "You have been away for a full term. I want to hear how you have fared with my own ears, not through reports."
Cassian held his gaze. "I'm still here."
"That," Selene said lightly, "is not the same as doing well."
A brief silence followed.
Aldric leaned back slightly in his chair, though the shift did nothing to lessen the weight of his presence. "Then let us speak plainly. Your third year is nearly behind you. Spring break is not here simply to give you rest. It is here because soon enough you will return for your final stretch, and after that, excuses will no longer matter. Tell me where you stand."
Cassian rested one hand on the arm of his chair. "In the same place I was before. My results are not impressive, my standing in the academy has not improved, and the professors still look at me as if they are waiting for me to fail in a more entertaining way."
Selene let out a quiet breath that was almost a sigh. "At least you remain capable of summarizing your own embarrassment."
Lucien spoke before Cassian could answer, his tone smooth enough to sound helpful rather than smug. "I would not say that is entirely fair, Mother. Cassian has always had a certain persistence. Most people in his position would have folded under the pressure long ago." He turned his head slightly, the faintest smile touching his mouth. "In its own way, that is admirable."
Cassian looked at him. "You always did know how to make an insult sound polished."
Lucien only gave a small shrug. "I was being sincere, my dear brother. Endurance has value, even when results do not."
Aurelia looked away toward the window, clearly uninterested in pretending this was pleasant. Lysandra, on the other hand, lowered her gaze for a moment with the faintest curve near her lips, as if Lucien's answer had amused her. It was a small thing, barely anything at all, but Cassian saw it. Then Lucien said something else about academy rankings, about discipline, about how the Vermond name still carried influence even among instructors, and Lysandra listened with an ease that sat too naturally on her. There was no strain there, no distance, no emptiness like the one she carried around Cassian.
Aldric's eyes remained on his younger son. "And your contracts?"
Cassian's jaw tightened. "Unchanged."
Selene's fingers tapped once against the armrest. "Of course they are."
But Aldric did not look away. He did not dismiss him, did not move on as if the answer had confirmed something useless. Instead, his gaze narrowed slightly, thoughtful rather than cold.
"That is exactly the part that continues to displease me," he said. "A boy with an Elite Core should not have reached this age with only a slime to his name. Failure is one thing. A result that makes no sense is another." His voice remained calm, but there was something firmer beneath it now. "So I will ask you once, Cassian. Has anything changed at all, even slightly, that the reports failed to tell me?"
Cassian met his father's gaze for a second longer, then shook his head. "No. Nothing has changed." His fingers tightened once against the armrest before he forced them still. "I tried again before break started. A goblin. Then a horned rat. After that a carrion hound cub one of the instructors brought in because he thought lowering the standard even further might help." A bitter smile touched his mouth for half a second. "Even they ran. Not metaphorically. Literally. The goblin screamed, the rat bit the handler, and the hound nearly broke its leash trying to get away from me."
Lucien laughed.
Cassian did not look at him.
"My apologies," Lucien said, though he sounded anything but apologetic. "I know I should not laugh. It is simply..." He exhaled through his nose, still smiling. "I had not realized things had become quite that tragic."
Selene closed her eyes for a brief moment, and the disappointment on her face sharpened into something closer to embarrassment. "Wonderful. The heir of House Vermond cannot even hold the attention of vermin and scavengers."
Aurelia said nothing. She only looked away again, as if refusing to be associated with the conversation at all.
Across the room, Lysandra's expression had gone still. Completely displeased.
Aldric's voice cut through the room before Lucien could speak again. "Enough."
Silence settled.
Then Selene said, "Since the children are all here for spring break, perhaps some use can still be made of the time. A private exhibition on the Vermond grounds would not be inappropriate. A few invited families, a demonstration, controlled sparring. At the very least, it would remind people that this house is not lacking in standards."
Lucien inclined his head slightly. "That seems reasonable. The Valecrests are already connected to us, and a few others are in the region this week. It would be simple enough to arrange."
Lysandra did not object. If anything, the faint shift in her posture made it look as though the idea suited her perfectly.
Aldric's eyes moved to Cassian. "A simple exhibition is one thing. It will not become a spectacle."
Cassian stood.
Every gaze in the room shifted to him.
"Then let me fight Lucien."
Aurelia actually blinked at that. Lucien's brows rose in open amusement. Selene looked at him as if he had just disgraced her again by breathing.
Aldric's voice hardened. "No."
Cassian did not sit back down. "You want to know where I stand. He is the measure everyone in this house uses anyway." His eyes moved to Lucien at last. "So let them all watch. Your guests. The Valecrests. Everyone."
Lucien smiled slowly. "Brother, are you certain you want that?"
Cassian held his gaze. "I'm certain."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Aldric said, quieter this time, "We will discuss it later."
That was not a refusal. At least it didn't sound like one to Cassian.
Cassian understood that much as he turned and walked toward the door with his slime bouncing after him. By the time the exhibition came, he would be standing under the Vermond name again, with every eye on him.
And everyone would be there to watch.