Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

• The Dean leaned back in his chair, the leather groaning beneath his weight.
• His fingers tapped a slow rhythm against the mahogany desk, each beat drilling deeper into Kael’s nerves.
• “How much?” he repeated with a mocking drawl, like a predator toying with prey. “That depends. Protection against Jason is one thing. Stripping him of power, taking his throne, making the entire student body spit at the sound of his name—that is something else entirely.”