Contents
Chapter 12
Overview
Regan, now Headmistress Drakharrow, forces through restrictive policies targeting blightborn students and launches a coerced “voluntary” blood donation program. Faculty opposition crystallizes around Rodriguez, Allenvale, Stonefist, and Sankara, but Regan leverages authority and Bloodguard backing. Privately conflicted, she withholds intel from Viktor and hardens herself for Persis’s sake.
Summary
Regan chairs a faculty meeting to impose sweeping, discriminatory revisions to Bloodwing’s Code of Conduct. She mandates uniform blue-silver attire for all blightborn, reasserts highblood privileges, enforces curfews for blightborn, and requires their registration to access the library, greenhouse, and hazardous storage areas.
Professor Rodriguez challenges the measures as branding and endangerment. Visiting Professor Vasanti Allenvale supports him, warning of harassment, while Professor Stonefist objects to moving blightborn combat classes into unsafe, dilapidated gyms. Regan lies that renovations are underway and pushes ahead.
Professor Sebastian Sankara protests the inequity and questions Board approval. Regan asserts authority, adopts the Drakharrow name to project power, and abruptly ends debate, insisting the changes take effect immediately.
Regan then unveils a Blood Donation Incentive Program: thralls are automatically enrolled, and “voluntary” blightborn donors receive rewards. Rodriguez decries coercion; Sankara underscores how practice will differ from policy. Regan maintains it is within school rules and highblood precepts, signaling enforcement by her new Bloodguard.
As the room clears, Regan notes Sankara’s reassuring touch on Rodriguez and chooses not to inform Viktor, who despises such liaisons. Haunted by Headmaster Kim’s execution and her Blood Vow with Kage, she steels herself, telling herself she acts to protect her brother Persis. Leaving, she feels judged by Blake’s fluffin silently watching from a pillar.
Who Appears
- Regan Drakharrow (née Pansera)Headmistress enforcing discriminatory policies; adopts Drakharrow name; unveils blood donation program; conceals details from Viktor; conflicted but resolute for Persis.
- Professor RodriguezBlightborn professor who forcefully condemns the new rules and blood program as coercive; focal voice of opposition.
- Professor Vasanti AllenvaleVisiting Orphos scholar who supports Rodriguez, warning the policies mark blightborn for harassment.
- Professor StonefistDwarven combat instructor; objects to relocating blightborn classes to unsafe, moldy gymnasiums.
- Professor Sebastian SankaraHighblood professor protesting inequity and Board bypass; reassures Rodriguez; draws Regan’s wary notice.
- Silvio SantosRegan’s secretary and Bloodguard; distributes the blood program memo, symbol of the new enforcement.
- Viktor DrakharrowArchon backing the crackdown; his authority and obsessions pressure Regan, who withholds some intel from him.
- Headmaster KimMurdered predecessor; his decapitated image haunts Regan, embodying her guilt and fear.
- KageRegan’s secret Blood Vow weighs on her conscience; a danger she chooses not to report.
- PersisRegan’s brother; his safety motivates her to enforce Viktor’s agenda despite misgivings.
- Blake’s fluffinSilent observer in the corridor; its watchful gaze intensifies Regan’s sense of judgment.