Manual Review Escalated was a polite way to say the academy had seen something it did not know how to punish yet.
Politeness made the phrase worse.
A punishment announced plainly could be measured. A blade on the table had length, weight, edge, and angle. A blade hidden beneath silk asked you to admire the embroidery while it found your ribs.
The assessment hall had gone very still after my name appeared beneath the board.
TEAM SEVEN: PASS.
SPECIAL NOTE: UNREGISTERED SCENARIO RESOLUTION.
CEDRIC VALDRAKE ARKHEN — MANUAL REVIEW ESCALATED.
Three lines. One survival. One warning. One noose.
My palm continued to bleed inside my glove.
Smoke curled from the seam between leather and wrist, thin enough that most students could pretend not to notice. Pretending was a noble skill. By the time a child of the great houses learned to hold a fork properly, he had already learned how to see blood and discuss weather.
Unfortunately, commoners had worse manners.
