"The first clutch of ice dragons recorded in Drakenfell history were housed in a mountain range that predates the kingdom itself. Name the range, the dragon who sired the clutch, and the blood pact that bound the first Dragon King to their protection."

"Everyone think Dexmon’s name," Gav called from his slab.

Noted. Gav could speak too.

Dexmon Drakenfell, Serena thought.

The voice spoke. "The chosen may answer."

Sound rushed back to Dex’s throat and the relief on his face was instantaneous.

"The Veldrathi Peaks," he said, voice carrying the easy confidence of a man who had been quizzed on this at the age of eight by a father who didn’t accept close enough. "The sire was Korvaeth the Irontooth, a storm-class ice dragon whose clutch produced seven viable eggs, four of which bonded to Drakenfell riders in the first generation. The blood pact was the Covenant of Ash and Scale, sworn between Korvaeth and King Drayven Drakenfell on the winter solstice. The terms bound every Dragon King after him to protect the ice dragon bloodline in perpetuity, in exchange for the right of first bond."

"Correct."

His half of the platform solidified. The stone groaned, then the entire slab rotated, swinging inward until Serena and Dex faced the center of the circle. For the first time, they could see the other platforms: Fin and Aeron still facing outward, Hyran and Gav the same, Maelor alone on his slab with the rigid posture of a man who had been ready to answer for the last five minutes.

Serena glanced at Dex, both arriving at the same conclusion.

Two correct answers turned the slab inwards.

"Every person has to answer one question correctly," Dex called to the group. "Our platform just turned to face inwards. Listen for the name from the people who can speak."

"Hear that, mages?" Gav called. "Listening ears on."

The look Hyran shot him could have started a war.

The voice returned.

"Before the Unification, the eastern wolf territories operated under a military command structure that predated the Alpha hierarchy. Name the rank equivalent to what is now called High Beta, and identify the oath that dissolved it."

Serena felt Fin through the matebond before the question finished. Calm. Ready. Loaded. North Varos descended directly from those eastern territories. Fin’s bloodline had been part of that command structure. This was written in his bones.

"Fin knows this," she called. "Everyone think Finnick Shadowclaw."

From Fin’s platform, he caught Aeron’s expression. His mouth had been open. Ready. He had known the answer too, and the injustice of being passed over in favor of a wolf was settling across his features like a personal betrayal.

On the platform behind her, Hyran was vibrating with academic fury. She couldn’t see him, but she could feel it radiating across the gap the way heat radiated from the lava. He had written papers on this. He had corrected other scholars’ papers on this. And he was standing on a rock over molten fire, unable to speak, while a twenty-something-year-old Alpha was about to answer a question Hyran could have answered in his sleep.

"The chosen may answer."

Fin’s voice was steady and immediate. "The rank was Warden-Commander. It was dissolved under the Oath of Consolidation at the Summit of Gray Fang, where the Alpha hierarchy was formally adopted as the unified command model. The last Warden-Commander was Aldric Stormvane, who refused to kneel and was executed on the summit steps."

"Correct."

The heat from under their platform stopped. Both he and Aeron exhaled.

"During the fall of the Morbian Sovereignty, the last High Mage enacted a failsafe that scattered the kingdom’s collective ward network across seven anchor points hidden throughout Skardos. Name the failsafe, the High Mage who enacted it, and the single anchor point that was never recovered."

"Aeron knows this," Fin said, voice cutting across the chamber. "Think Aeron Lancaster."

No one argued. The people who would have were still silenced. So Serena, Dex, and Gav thought Aeron’s name.

"The chosen may answer."

Aeron’s voice was different than it had been for the earlier questions. Quieter. Steady, but carrying weight. This was his homeland. His people. The fall of Morbia was history to everyone else in this chamber. To him it was inheritance.

"The Scattering of Embers. High Mage Veyrith Solenne. She broke the network into seven shards and hid them in ley-line convergences. Six were found. The seventh, the Solenne Fragment, was anchored in the Crythian Expanse." He went quiet. "I grew up hearing that story. I never expected to be standing on top of it."

"Correct."

On his solo platform, Maelor closed his eyes. He had studied the Scattering of Embers for a decade. He had published two papers on it. He had dedicated an entire Chapter of his third book to Veyrith Solenne’s ward methodology. And he had just listened to a man who grew up in the ruins of that kingdom deliver the answer with the kind of authority that no publication could manufacture. For once, he had no rebuttal. The silence from his platform was, by Maelor’s standards, a standing ovation.

Fin and Aeron’s platform groaned and rotated inward, locking into position beside Serena and Dex’s. Two down.

The voice returned.

"During the reign of the Fourth Accord, a sealed vault beneath the Crythian Expanse was discovered containing artifacts from a civilization that predated wolf, mage, and fae recorded history. The vault was opened once, catalogued by a single expedition, then sealed permanently under a joint decree. Name the expedition leader, the classification system they created for the artifacts, and the specific article of the decree that authorized the permanent seal."

Silence.

Serena ran through everything she’d ever read both pre- and post-Frostborne, but nothing came to mind. Surprising.

Nothing.

She looked at Dex. He shook his head once. His jaw was tight. He didn’t know either.

"I’ve got nothing," Gav called, his back still turned. "That’s deep archive. Mage territory."

Next to him, every muscle in Hyran Thornfell’s body was locked.

"You alright there?" Gav asked.

Hyran couldn’t answer.