Chapter 41

Maeve’s POV

I sat in the exam hall, where the low, continuous shhh of dozens of pencils moving across paper created a tense, almost mechanical background noise.

Rows of desks stretched out, filled with fellow students hunched over their papers, brows furrowed in concentration.

The air was thick with that familiar mix of stale coffee, nervous sweat, and the faint metallic tang of sharpened pencils.