Marenna looked up abruptly.

  A gust of air splitting the clouds preceded the sudden appearance of a winged creature.

  A massive demon, its parchment-like wings etched with living glyphs, dove down at full speed.

  In a brutal swoop, it caught its falling comrade just before impact with the ground.

  Together, they ascended again, beating the air with a silent fury.

  Garlan, still charged with power, stepped forward, ready to launch.

  “No!” Marenna cried out. “I can catch them!”

  A fiery aura had begun to pulse around him.

  But Marenna, breathless, grabbed his arm.

  “Bad idea. If anyone sees you flying, we’re finished.”

  He froze for a moment, his gaze lost in the sky.

  Then he took a slow breath.

  Stepped back.

  And let the demons vanish into the horizon.

  “I could’ve taken them…”

  “I know,” Marenna murmured. “But not today.”

  She looked at him, then smiled gently.

  “And please, darling… put your arms back to human. With those scales, I could file my nails on them — and I didn’t schedule a surprise manicure session.”

  Garlan snorted, amused, and let the draconic scales retract slowly.

  He wasn’t calm.

  But he returned to his human form.

  They rejoined the group. Despite first aid efforts, some students were badly injured, pale, or unconscious.

  An emergency return to the academy was ordered, under reinforced magical escort.

  As they flew back on remotely activated teleportation platforms, Garlan whispered:

  “By the way… where did the two other demons go?”

  Marenna raised an eyebrow, then pretended to think.

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  “What demons?”

  She smiled faintly.

  Garlan too.

  He kissed her forehead, proud, grateful.

  Back at the academy, the atmosphere was tense.

  The entrance courtyard swarmed with healers, magical medics, and professors summoned in haste.

  Some wounded students were immediately transferred to stasis chambers.

  Silence barriers were erected around the most affected groups.

  Marenna and Garlan were taken aside for questioning.

  But the difficult question came quickly:

  Why had the demon fled?

  How had they survived?

  “We need a credible story,” Marenna murmured.

  “And a fast one,” Garlan added. “Because we can’t exactly say I threw him from the sky.”

  They exchanged a look — nervous, but in sync.

  They’d have to play this carefully to protect their secret.

  Marenna told the truth about her side of the fight — how she had repelled one of the demons with her vines and helped heal the injured.

  Her testimony was backed by Dame Rilka, the professor present during the attack, making her story untouchable.

  Garlan, for his part, explained that he had fought the main demon with everything he had.

  He claimed to have knocked it back several meters with a powerful wind spell, but it hadn’t been enough.

  The demon, he said, had seemed oddly interested in his abilities — as if trying to assess him.

  “Maybe he was testing my limits,” Garlan said. “And once he’d seen enough… he just left.”

  The academic council remained silent for a moment.

  Then one of the examiner-mages spoke, eyes sharp:

  “Your testimonies are clear… but this sudden retreat is unusual. And your abilities, Garlan — while remarkable — raise certain questions.”

  Another professor added, more coldly:

  “By security protocol, and until further notice, you will be placed under enhanced magical surveillance. For your safety, of course… but also that of your fellow students.”

  Garlan clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

  Marenna quietly placed a hand on his arm.

  The game had changed.

  Garlan raised his hand.

  “What exactly does this ‘enhanced magical surveillance’ involve? I’d remind you I’m married. So if this involves any images of a… personal nature, we’re going to have a problem.”

  The old mages exchanged surprised glances.

  Some blushed faintly.

  “No, no, nothing of the sort,” one assured him, flustered. “It’s just a high-level location spell. No images. No sound. Only your exact position in real time. Even in the air, underground… or underwater.”

  Garlan raised an eyebrow, inwardly annoyed.

  “Oof... that’s going to be a problem,” he thought. “No more moonlit flying for a while.”

  They eventually returned to their room, as night slowly fell over the academy.

  Garlan, visibly irritated, paced the floor for a moment.

  “This is so frustrating… we won’t be able to go flying under the moon anymore. Or skim the lakes together.”

  Marenna, watching him slowly smolder, noticed a faint trail of smoke rising from his chest.

  She stepped forward without a word and hugged him gently.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered. “What matters is that we’re together.”

  He rested his forehead against hers, his arms still heavy with tension.

  “Thank you for always grounding me.

  I think without you… I would’ve already set this whole city on fire.”