Darla

The walk from the elder’s room to the courtyard was tense. I could practically feel the anger vibrating off Ryden, the wheels already turning to every possibility of what could happen in that ring.

The moment the breeze hit my skin, I quickly cast a silencing spell. It settled over us like invisible curtains—unseen to the naked eye but blocking any sound from leaving—so no one would hear our conversation. We’d long since lost Aerisyl in the hallways and were left alone to find our way to our next classroom, which just happened to be on the other side of the school.

“We need to leave,” Ryden said, his voice rough and rugged.

“What? No. We are not leaving.” I turned to him. Granted, we weren’t held here by any means, but where would we go? We weren’t wanted here, no matter how many times people pretended to care to our faces. We knew we didn’t belong here. But to leave Aven and Akari? Wouldn’t the people turn their focus onto them—blame them and treat them horribly for the simple fact that they were the reasons we were here in the first place?

“D, they are going to kill you.” His voice went frantic with panic—an emotion he would never let others see. Thankful no one was around to witness it, the words lodged in my chest for a moment before I forced a scoff out.

“Gee, thanks.” I forced the snark, curling my words to hide the flip of uncertainty that landed like ice in my stomach. He was the one who taught me to fight. I didn’t train as often as he did, but I could still hold my own.

“That’s not—fuck.” He huffed, brushing a hand through his hair. His brows pulled down into a hard V as he slipped back into his thoughts before finally speaking softer than he had moments ago: “I trust you. It’s them I don’t trust.”

“I know you don’t, but regardless of that, we can’t leave, Ry.” I grabbed his left hand and pulled him to the closest bench, forcing him to sit. He did, wordlessly, knowing full well I wouldn’t take no for an answer. He bent down, resting his elbows on his knees, and looked up at me. “And why the hell not?” His control over his emotions was faltering—he worried for me, worried about what would happen if we stayed.

I couldn’t blame him. It had always been this way, but it was all we’d ever known: an everyday fight to survive. Other students tried to get a rise out of us, merchants refused to sell to us, and we faced punishments and extra training. It was a game we knew all too well.

I sat down next to him and let the silence stretch for a beat before breaking it. “Did you not see what they were working on before we entered?” The table had been littered with papers and a burned map that made it look like generals were trying to strategize a plan of attack. A few of those pages had caught my eye.

“The one Theron was looking at mentioned a rogue attack. I didn’t get a full read—he turned it away the moment I looked at it.”

At that, Ryden shot upright, narrowing his eyes as he locked onto me. “A rogue attack?” He tilted his head, thinking. Rogues were lone beasts—or shifters, I should say—people banished from packs for going against their pack laws. Over time, without a pack, they tended to go a little crazy. They attacked without thought and had no problem crossing pack territories. They’d even attack other rogues. Dangerous and unpredictable at best. I couldn’t say I’d seen one myself, only heard the stories: the aftermath, body parts left on the forest floor.

“That can’t be all,” he snorted. “You hardly miss anything, especially if it catches your interest.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, it’s not. Another paper talked about a scout party going missing—one sent just a few days ago.” It wasn’t unknown for packs to send scout parties from time to time. When a shifter came of age, they sometimes lost control of their animals; sometimes those animals ran and hunted for days, and they couldn’t shift back until an alpha ordered them to.

“And the map is the other thing I noticed,” I went on. “All the red marks are the attacks that have happened. If I counted right, there were at least six pins, Ry.”

He swore under his breath and flexed his fingers like he could squeeze the answers out of the wood we sit on. “If there have been six attacks already, then why hide it?” he asked.

“That is the million-gold coin question,” I said, chuckling despite the cold in my gut. “My guess—based on the way they acted—is that they’re using our ‘punishment’ as a distraction. Either to keep control over people, or because they already have something else planned.”

This realization doesn’t make either of us feel any better about the situation. They’ve always treated us like pawns on their board. But this feels like a new move entirely. The question now is: what are we going to do? Do we just play along? And if we do, what would that do for us?

Having half the picture is what’s screwing us right now. We need more information and clarification on their plan before we can proceed. Rogues are the fire at our doorstep. But the elders? They’re the ones holding the match to this situation.

I’ll have to meet up with a few of my contacts who owe me a favor later tonight, without Ryden knowing or coming with me.

That is one part of my life Ryden knows nothing about. Late nights spent hiding in shadows, listening, and gathering information. The thrill of slipping through shadows still sparks in my chest every time I go out, even though I know Ryden will kill me if he finds out. Secrets like these don’t stay hidden forever, and I know that. But the heists make it worthwhile — they give us enough coin to keep food on our table and a roof over our heads. Even if our roof leaks when it rains, it’s still ours. Favors are worth more than money.

Overhearing conversations, catching a mate tangled with another she-dragon. Stealing an item someone swore was untouchable. It varies, but it pays well enough for me to keep doing it.

I let Ryden stew in the silence as we stood, the weight of the new information pressing down on my shoulders while I made a plan.

I’ll see Kade tonight, he’s the one who might know more than my other contacts. And I could use my favor to ask him to get more information as well; he owes me one after I got him out of a sticky situation a few months ago. He had caught the attention of some guys at a tavern that sits on the edge of our town lines, and came to me asking if I could hide him for a while.

I didn’t have room for him at my home, but I did have a space in an abandoned building not far from us, my own little kingdom where I keep money, stolen goods, books, scraps of information, and an old mattress I crash on when the nights run too late.

I, of course, kept all my valuables well hidden, even if no one knew about the place. You can never be too careful.

So, like the kind soul that I am, I let the infuriating man stay there until things had settled down for him.

My thoughts and planning are stopped by an unfamiliar voice, “and who are you two?”

I look up to find a tall, slender, but muscular man at the desk in the classroom. His pale silver hair is pulled back into a ponytail so it is kept out of his face.

His presence prickled my skin as if the air around him was charged. But what’s caught my attention is the points of his ears.

Is he..fae? What the hell?

“We are clearly students. Who the fuck are you? And where is Mr. Bad Breath?” I shove my hands into my pockets. He arches his brow at me and opens his mouth to reply, but is quickly cut off by Ryden, “Sorry about the blue-haired goblin, sir. We just got back from a meeting with the elders.” Ryden places his hand on the top of my head and pushes me out of the way.

“Hey! What the fuck, Ry?” I growl out. He begins to move further into the classroom, making a show of heading to his seat, but before he can get too far, I hook his ankle with my foot and yank. He topples with a startled grunt, landing on a desk that shudders beneath him. Papers scatter across the floor like startled birds.

The desk he landed on happened to be Bella’s.

She caught my eyes, her lips twitching at the corners as if to scold me–her eyes are more light with her amusement than Iritation.

I can’t help smirking back, even if I’ll deny it later.

The stranger sighs loudly, rubbing the area between his eyebrows. “Just get to your seats and shut the fuck up. I have a lesson to teach.”

Once we sit down and the class gives him their full attention, he begins to speak, introducing himself as Nao and explaining that he will be our substitute until Mr. Bad Breath returns. However, he never specifies why our teacher isn’t here in the first place. Making my curiosity to poke its head up, but regardless, I hold my tongue.