The factions tried to protect Seraphina after the bell under C1 exposed her risk.
That was the most frightening thing they had done all day.
Open attacks were easy to name. Moral accusations left teeth marks. Gold Hall procedure at least admitted it wanted order. But protection came wearing concern, and concern could enter rooms where hostility would be stopped at the door.
The first offer came from Piety Circle.
Protection sounded kind because kindness made better chains than fear.
That was why the offers frightened me. A threat could be resisted in public. A cage called concern required proof before anyone allowed you to hate it. Piety had brought a veil. Gold Hall brought a perimeter. The anonymous proposal brought common sense with no throat attached.
Three different hands.
One door trying to close.
Yoren Dall bowed at the chapel threshold with three white-gold students behind him and a folded veil over his arm.
