OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: OF HEADMASTERS, FREEZING ORDERS,

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: OF HEADMASTERS, FREEZING ORDERS, AND A BOY WHO WOULD FREEZE THE WORLD FOR ME

RIYEE'S POV

The worst kind of silence wasn't the loud one—it was this. Hundreds of students packed inside the Aureum Gymnasium again, fresh off the battlefield, still sweating gunpowder and adrenaline, but no one said a word. Not after what happened during the manhunt. The traps. The blood. The chaos that wasn't supposed to happen in a school event.

My ears still rang from the last pulse mine we disabled. My skin still prickled from the shockwire Saichel intercepted. But none of it compared to the tension crackling in the air now.

The Ardent Court was at my back, spread across the first row like a rogue council summoned to trial. The SAA student council sat like carved statues, KD in the middle, his face carved from marble.

Then, Headmaster Lazaro Soriano of Celestine Ardent Academy stepped forward. He wore his coat like armor—Ardent emblem stitched proudly against his chest, and that same subtle fury hiding behind his steel-gray gaze.

"We forged this Alliance not to compete, but to understand," his voice rang out, cold and steady like drawn steel. "What happened today—real traps in a simulation—is not a representation of either school's values. It will be investigated fully. There will be accountability."

I followed his line of sight—brief, sharp, deliberate—landing straight on Supreme Allievo's council.

KD didn't flinch. Of course he didn't.

"We are warriors, yes," Headmaster Lazaro continued, "but never without honor. And never without safety for our own. Remember that."

Translation: You messed with his son and niece, and this was your only warning.

Then came the counter-gavel. Headmaster Antonio Levesque, towering and composed, stepped up next.

"We expect our students to play hard—but never to endanger lives," he said, voice clipped and judicial. "The use of unauthorized traps in today's manhunt will be reviewed immediately. Until then, I commend both schools for their resilience. Let this Alliance not be shaken by the errors of a few."

I swear, I heard some students exhale like they'd been holding their breath the whole time.

But the real frost came next. KD stood. And just like that, the room stopped breathing again. He didn't look at anyone. He didn't need to.

"To everyone who participated in the Airsoft Manhunt," he said in that controlled, glacial tone, "you are now mandated to report to the infirmary. Immediately."

A beat of confusion. Then murmurs.

"No clearance from the attending physician," KD continued, sharper now, "means no access to any school facility aside from your dormitory. No classrooms. No dining halls. No clubs. No gym."

His gaze swept the room. Didn't land on anyone—but somehow, it landed on all of us.

"If you are hurt, you will be treated. If you are fine, the doctor will confirm it. Either way—you're not getting past those doors until I see proof you've been cleared."

Yup. There it was. The Ice President, in full form.

"Your boyfriend is scary," Keryn whispered beside me.

"Scarier than yours?"

She chuckled, low and nervous. "Yours just froze an entire gym with words and didn't even raise his voice. Lyle only scares people when he's mad. That? That was surgical."