Chapter 5: The Teacher and the Unleashed Wolf

The silence that fell between Caius and me after the incident in the garden was heavier than any prison door. It was a living thing, thick with unspoken horror, shame, and a terrifying, electric awareness. He didn’t apologize for what he’d done. He couldn’t. An apology would mean acknowledging the act, and giving it a name felt more dangerous than the act itself. Instead, his response was pragmatic, cold, and utterly transformative. Two mornings later, I was summoned not to the library,...