“You said it was a moment of jealousy,” Matthew went on. “That you lost your head and went down the wrong path.
“You said you only meant to make her stay in bed for a while. Just to teach her a lesson. You never imagined it would end like this.
He gritted his teeth. “This was just an accident. Wasn’t it?”
The pain in Linda’s cheek throbbed and spread, but she didn’t flinch. Her eyes stayed on him, cold and unblinking. A crooked smile slowly surfaced.
“No,” she said. “That’s not right. I did come to admit a mistake.
“But not that one.”
Her voice sharpened. “My real mistake was taking so many years to finally see what kind of people you are. When Marietta failed during the Primal Core Condensation, you blamed me. Every single one of you knew the truth.”
“And you still let it happen. You tore out my Gilded Core. You sentenced me to exile at Glacial Overlook so I could ‘repent.
“And all of it came down to one thing. I had no one backing me.”
Linda lifted her gaze and slowly swept her eyes across the people seated above. “Marietta comes from the Barber bloodline. Old money. Old power. A name that opens doors. And me?”
Linda scoffed. “I’m an orphan. No parents. No family. No protection. You watched them dump everything on me, not because it made sense, but because I was alone. Easy to sacrifice.
“Marietta did it. And every one of you helped her.”
She turned her gaze toward Coleman and then the head of the High Sanctum, Dewitt Clay. “A room full of sanctimonious liars.”
Matthew’s face went white. “That’s enough. Shut up.”
Linda laughed softly. “Oh, relax. I’m not done yet.” She looked straight at him. “And you. Stop pretending you’re fair. Stop pretending you ever were. You know how biased you are.”
“If Marietta cries, I’m guilty. If her eyes get red, suddenly I’m the monster.
“What is she supposed to be? Fragile? Helpless? How does she get bullied by me every single time something goes wrong?
“Isn’t she your precious prodigy? The genius everyone worships? Supposedly more talented than me?”
“Then explain this to me,” Linda shouted, her voice echoing through the hall, “why is it always my fault when things fall apart?”
Matthew snapped. Rage twisted his features as he raised his hand again.
Linda caught his wrist mid–swing. Before anyone could react, she struck him twice across the face.
The sound cut clean through the chamber.
Matthew staggered, staring at her in disbelief.
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Linda shoved him back. “Get lost. Consider that payback. Just a taste of what you really deserve.”
Linda fixed her gaze on the big shots sitting up front.
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“Professor Ferrell, don’t insult me by pretending you didn’t see the flaw in Marietta’s Primal Core Condensation. You saw it. You knew,” she said. “And you still sat there and let us fight.
“That duel happened with your approval. I asked first. And you agreed.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So tell me this. How does someone at the early stage of a Gilded Core shatter another core at the same level from the inside? Say it out loud. Doesn’t it sound ridiculous?”
“The truth is obvious. Every one of you knows it. You just want me to take the blame. You want me to step aside and clear the path for the Barber family’s golden girl.”
Linda laughed, loud and fearless. “Not a chance.”
Her voice rang with defiance.
Even as Coleman’s oppressive aura pressed down on her, heavy enough to crush bone, Linda did not bow her head.
Boris’s expression darkened. He sneered, “Professor Clay, Professor Ferrell. So this is what your organization produces?”
A crystal insignia appeared in Linda’s hand. The mark of an elite–bound student.
She held it up, and then released it.
The insignia hit the floor.
Linda smiled coldly. “Not anymore. I wasn’t cast out. This place is rotten. And I’m done standing in it.”
Dewitt’s expression remained calm.
“Do you have any idea,” he said quietly, “what happens to someone who betrays the High Sanctum of Archmagi?”
Linda looked straight back at him. She didn’t lower her eyes. “This isn’t betrayal,” she said. “I walked away on my own.
“I renounced my oath. My power was stripped from me. My spell circuits were burned out. I am barred for life from ever entering the Sanctum again.”
Then she laughed. It was bitter. “So let’s not pretend,” she went on. “That power you’re threatening me with? It’s already gone.”
“Everything I ever learned here, I gave back.”
“So no,” she said coldly. “I don’t owe the Sanctum a damn thing.”
“That is enough,” Dewitt snapped.
The pressure in the room exploded. An invisible force slammed into Linda and sent her flying through the open doors.
She crashed onto the stone corridor outside, rolling hard before stopping.
Inside the hall, faces drained of color all at once. Matthew and Toney froze. Marietta went rigid, her entire body trembling.
Linda lay still for a heartbeat. Then she pushed herself up.
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“Even if you’re planning to silence me for good,” she said, her voice rough but unbroken. “I’m still saying it. She failed her own Condensation and pinned it on me.
“The Barber family wanted my Core. So they framed me.”
Her gaze swept the hall. “And the High Sanctum?” she said, her mouth twisting. “You helped them do it. You’re blind. You’re
corrupt.
“And Coleman Ferrell, you failed your student. You don’t deserve to call yourself a teacher.”
Silence swallowed the hall. No one dared speak.
Linda lifted her chin. “If I disappear one day,” she said evenly, “remember this. Marietta and the Barber family killed me. And the High Sanctum was their accomplice.”
Cole’s eyes darkened. “You still refuse to confess?”
Her answer came without hesitation. “I’d rather die.”
‘Confess and live how?‘ Linda thought. ‘Branded a criminal. Crawling on whatever scraps they leave me. Cast out anyway.
‘If that’s the end either way, then no. I won’t bow.‘
“Very well,” Cole said. “Send her to Abyss Oubliette.”
There were two places within the Sanctum that every initiate feared.
One was the Abyss Oubliette. The other was Glacial Overlook.
Both were reserved for crimes beyond forgiveness. But Abyss Oubliette was worse. Total darkness. Freezing water. Silence that crushed the mind until madness set in.
Linda laughed softly. “Professor Ferrell,” she said, “you stripped me of my status the moment you stripped my power. You don’t get to judge me anymore.”
“Take her away,” Cole said flatly.
She did not resist as two enforcers dragged her down the corridor. As they passed Boris, she met his eyes.
There was no surprise there. Only naked intent to kill.
Her lips moved. “Trash.”
Boris’s expression twisted with rage.
“Professor Ferrell, Matthew cried out, dropping to his knees. “Please. Let her go.”
Toney stared at Linda’s bloodied figure, stunned. ‘She’s lost her mind,‘ he thought. Then he looked at Marietta. She wasn’t crying. She was shaking.
Something cold settled in his chest. ‘What if Linda’s telling the truth?
Was Linda actually innocent all along?”
The hall suffocated in silence.
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Less than half an hour later, the two enforcers burst back in, faces pale. “Proffessor Clay,” one of them gasped, “Linda escaped.”
“She escaped?” Dewitt repeated.
The room erupted.
“How?” he shouted. “Her power was gone. There were two of you!”
The enforcer hesitated, then pulled out a half–burned sigil etched into cracked metal.
“She used this,” he said.
The hall froze.
Matthew blurted out, “Inscribed magic? Since when can she do that? The Sanctum doesn’t teach Inscribed work.”
Nobody had any idea how Linda managed to get the hang of it.
But with her caught red–handed stealing forbidden techniques from outside the sect, the High Sanctum of Archmagi locked down the whole mountain and started a full–on manhunt for her.
Cole stared at the scorched sigil in his hand, his expression unreadable.
Rayford, having heard the news, sighed quietly. “This time,” he murmured, “we were catastrophically wrong.”
The Sanctum had no inscribed mages.
But the Great Repository of Tomes held old grimoires left behind by the founders.
Years ago, Rayford had seen Linda there more than once, reading and sketching symbols at the same time.
He remembered it clearly.
And now, someone with that kind of talent was just kicked out by the High Sanctum.
While the Sanctum searched the mountain, Linda went alone to the Glacial Overlook.
By the time Matthew and Toney arrived, she was already standing at the edge. The wind howled up from the abyss, tearing at her clothes like living things.
She looked at the students who had followed her, and for a moment, she almost seemed to be smiling.
Matthew’s hands were shaking. “What are you doing?” he shouted. “Come back!”
Linda’s lips curved slightly, but her eyes were empty. “I didn’t destroy Marietta’s Core,” she said slowly.“She framed me. She wanted what was mine.”
“You want me to confess?” She met their eyes. “I’d rather die.”
She stepped back. Once. Twice,
‘I would rather die than lie,” Linda yelled.
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Then she jumped. Her voice echoed through the frozen air as she fell. The students stood frozen in horror.
Matthew lunged forward, screaming her name. “Come back!”
But it was too late.
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Everyone knew what waited below the Glacial Overlook. The storm winds alone would tear a body apart long before it ever reached the bottom.
Matthew’s hand closed on nothing. The last thing he saw was her expression. It was defiant and free.
Something inside his chest shattered.
‘No. Linda. Matthew’s thoughts trembled, the words echoing in his shattered heart.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
