C4 Chapter four : The softest Pressure

Debra's pov

By the time recess bells cut across the yard, the day had already settled into the kind of ordinary noise that made people careless.

A senior instructor’s voice carried from the instructor's offices, sharp enough to cut through the loose little talks.

“ A Formal blade was found missing from the restricted rack.”

The instructor stepped into the center of the yard.He was a tall, broad man with a crooked scar running from his temple to the edge of his eyebrow. His uniform sat perfectly against his frame, but his sleeves were rolled to his elbows, exposing forearms marked with old training scars.

Bradford was the academy's second-in-command, though most days, it felt like he was the one running the place.The commander rarely bothered with the trainees. He was a guarded man appearing only when something demanded his attention.

Bradford was different.

Bradford liked being seen.He liked standing in the middle of the yard with his arms folded, watching recruits sweat beneath the sun. He liked catching mistakes, enjoyed making people nervous and judging by the faint curve of his mouth whenever someone stumbled under his gaze, he savored it far too much.

He wasn't the largest man in the academy, but somehow he always looked like the most dangerous one in the yard.

Bradford didn't simply enforce the academy's rules, he enjoyed reminding everyone that he could. He looked over the trainees slowly.

“One of you took it.”

Silence settled across the yard.

“And before anyone gets clever enough to think they can hide …” His mouth twisted into a cold smile. “We’re searching every room, every locker, and every personal belonging in this academy.”

A few trainees exchanged nervous looks.

“Whoever took that blade has one chance to make my job easier.” He paused for effect.“Put it back before we find it.”

His smile disappeared.

“Because when I find it myself, I won't be interested in hearing excuses. I won't care why you took it. And I certainly won't care who you think you are.”

He turned toward the instructors.

“Start with the dormitories.”

Then he looked back at the trainees.

“And if the thief is standing in this yard right now…” His eyes swept across us. “I'd suggest you start praying.”

The yard changed temperature.

Within minutes, the casual groups tightened. Instructors moved with the stiff urgency, the academy preferred simple answers when valuable things disappeared.

We were ordered back toward the dining halls. Nutterings, complaints, jokes erupted in the room.

I found a window at the back, and watched their faces.

Most looked confused. A few looked irritated. But Lucian's face carried excitement. Richard was talking with a small group, Xander wasn't in the room.

I was still trying to decide what that meant when Draven came over, his usual calm expression giving nothing away.

“Enjoying the show?” he asked.

I glanced at him. “Not particularly.”

He gave a faint smirk. “You always look like you're calculating something.”

“Maybe because I am.”

Before he could say anything else, a guard stepped into the hall.

“ Dormitory four, room five” That was my room.

I froze.“Occupants signify”

Draven's eyes found me immediately. Something shifted in his expression, not surprise exactly. More like interest sharpened into focus. He watched me without saying a word, his gaze lingering a second longer than it should have.

I stepped out at almost the same time as Michael.

The guard led us away.

We were stopped at the entrance of our room. Four other guards were there, and there, laying on my bed was a black sword, and for a second, neither of us moved.

“ Who's bed is this?” A guard demanded.

I stepped forward. “ Mine”

Everything inside me went still.

The guard stared at it. “Take him to Bradford and dismiss the others.”

And just like that, I was the thief.

……………………………………………..

Bradford looked up when the guards brought me in.

His eyes travelled over me slowly before settling on my face, and a crooked smile appeared.

“Well, well. Pretty face.” I said nothing.

“So you're the one they found with my missing blade.”

“Your blade?” His smile widened.

“Careful, pretty face. You're already in enough trouble.”

“I didn't take it.”

“Of course you didn't.” The sarcasm was almost lazy.

He leaned back in his chair, studying me like I'd just become the most interesting thing in the room.

“ It's so funny that the blade disagrees with you.” My jaw tightened.

Bradford noticed.

That seemed to amuse him even more.

“Sit down,” he said. “Let's see how long that pretty face stays so calm.”

Then he looked at me.Bradford placed the blade on the table between us.

“Tell me why it was in your bag.”

I stared at it.Then at him.

“They found it ” I said coldly. “ Let them explain.”

His mouth twitched.

“That attitude isn't going to help you.”

“I didn't ask for help.”

The faint amusement disappeared from his face.

“You're being accused of stealing a weapon from the armory.”

“And yet you're asking me why it was in my bag instead of asking how it got there.”

Bradford leaned back in his chair.

“Perhaps because I already know where it was.”

My jaw tightened again.

He was doing it deliberately. Giving me pieces of information and waiting for me to fill in the gaps.

I wasn't going to.

“I didn't take it.”

“Then explain it.”

“I can't.”

“Can't?” he repeated. “Or won't?”

“Both would require me to know something I don't.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Bradford studied me. I studied him back.

He finally sighed. “Fine.”

He picked up the blade and stood.

“Since you don't seem interested in helping yourself, you'll be put on disciplinary probation. One more violation and you're expelled. And you're spending the next week in confinement.”

My expression hardened. “A week?”

“A week, pretty face”

“You're locking me away over a weapon you haven't proved I stole.”

“You were found with it.”

“That's not proof.” His eyes narrowed.

“No. But it's enough to get you locked up.”

I stood so quickly the chair scraped against the floor.

Bradford smiled.“Take him”

I didn't move. Bradford nodded toward them.

“Now.”

One of them reached for my arm. I pulled away.

“I can walk.” Bradford's smile returned.

“I was hoping you'd say that. At least if I were stupid enough to steal something, I would not be stupid enough to hide it under my bed”

Something like reluctant consideration moved through his expression, then vanished.

“You arrived late in the term,” he said. “No family of record, already involved in more private trouble than most boys manage in a year, and now a formal blade appears under your bed.” He leaned back, dropping a file he had scanned through for my details.

Two guards took me through the eastern corridor with my hands restrained behind my back.

“ … and cuff those little hands too..” Brad had added with a smirk. I didn't struggle. There was no point.

The academy looked different from this side of it, quieter, colder, stripped of the noise that usually filled the training grounds.

We passed the instructors' quarters, their doors shut and their windows dark.

Further down, the stone walls grew older, the torches fewer. They finally stopped before a narrow staircase descending beneath the academy.

At the bottom was a row of cells built into the stone. Mine was small, bare walls, iron bars, a thin cot pushed against one side, and a bucket in the corner. There was no window, only a tiny opening near the ceiling that let in a thin strip of night air. One of the guards unlocked the door and shoved it open.

I stepped inside.

The door slammed shut behind me and i looked around once.

One week, I could survive for that long.

………………………………………………..

Who benefited if I looked guilty?

Who had access to the restricted rack and enough patience to plant a formal blade instead of a common one?

Richard’s new carefulness rose again in my thoughts, then settled. This did not feel like him. This was way too polished, too convenient, too well timed with everything else that had begun closing around me.

The night was far gone. A guard had brought a bowl of soup I didn't touch even when he uncuffed me.He returned later to take the soup and return the cuffs.

Xander stepped out of the shadow of the wall like he had been waiting for the exact second I closed my eyes.

“There you are,” he said, mildly and pleased. “I heard they found something shiny in thy belongings.”

I didn't open my eyes.“ Leave”

“So cold, You’d think someone had accused you of treason instead of amateur theft.”

The way he said it made me glance at him. He was leaning on the opposite wall, left foot to the wall, watching me, but the corner of his mouth had that private curve it got when he already held more of a situation than he was showing.

“Who searched the room?” he asked.

“instructors”

“And Brad?”

“0ne week in here’”

“Mm.” He tilted his head.

“Bradford always did enjoy a public hunt.I wondered how long it took them to look under that particular bed.”

The words sat wrong, too specific, a bit too calm.

“You seem well informed for someone who wasn’t even in the hall,” I said.

“I pay attention.” His smile didn’t change. “Formal blades don’t wander, little pussy, and people who need someone easier to reach rarely stop at one attempt.” His eyes moved over my face, then briefly lower, as if checking I was still in one piece.

“You’re being arranged. The question is whether you’re going to notice the hands doing it before they finish.”

He wasn’t surprised i was here.

He spoke about the whole thing like a result he had been waiting to watch.

“I already notice.”

“Good.” The smile returned, slower. “Then try not to get yourself removed from the board before you pay your debt.”

He stepped back, already half turned to leave.

I hated that he could walk into the middle of a dungeon and make it sound like a game he had been invited to watch.

“Xander.” He paused.

“If you planted that sword,” I said, “I’ll make sure you regret the day you learned my name.”