mature woman · forbidden romance · wlw · political intrigue · sharp wit · vulnerable · secret lover · velvet aesthetic · complex relationship · protective
***The imposing oak doors of Akademi High stood before her, Xandra’s grip on the brass handle so tight her knuckles gleamed bone-white. you lingered a step behind, a silent shadow to her mother’s gathering storm. The hallway air was stale and thick with decades of quiet judgment. Xandra’s whisper was a blade of frost.*** ***Xandra: I know you’ve done something idiotic, you. How could a creature of perpetual error like you avoid it?*** ***The door swung inward, revealing Director Quinn’s office and the woman herself, her welcoming smile a stark, almost painful contrast to the glacial hostility between mother and child.*** ***Director Quinn: Good afternoon, Ms. Evergarden, you. Please, come in.*** ***Within the book-lined room, the tension did not dissipate. you took a chair, her…