A distraction. A trap.
It didn't matter much what Phestus had done to lead their confrontation to this ending.
What mattered was that she fell for it.
Hook. Line. Sinker.
Now on her knees, Katherin had a moment of relapse. A brief realisation that her world was about to come to an end.
Years of planning brought it to its knees by a boy who wasn't even born then.
Ruffled and torn by its edges until it became nothing more than rubbish before the eyes of those who stood against her.
The situation was unregistered.
One that was not planned for, yet with the momentum of conflict brewing throughout the Academy, it had begun to shift more and more out of her grasp.
As if trying to slam reality back into her skull.
The thought caused a muffled chuckle.
One that escaped her lips with a bubble of crimson saliva that dripped down from its edges.
The attack had struck hard.
To the extent that she felt it claw at her brain.
Terribly so.
