Still, I don’t know if I should tell him that. Thinking it is one thing. Thinking it doesn’t cost anything. Butsaying it out loud—admitting it, to him? That’s letting him hold the knife. And I don’t know if I’m ready for that.
Either way, doesn’t matter; he hasn’t looked at me properly since we left for patrol this morning, and now I’m stuck out here sweating through my shirt on the outskirts of Ravenscross, sun beating down at that cruel, late-summer angle—no shade, no key, no sex, no answers—and Second-year Trials are in two days. Tension’s crawling under my skin, slow and sharp, like it knows something I don’t.
I let out a long exhale. For a second, everything holds.
Then—
A scream cuts through the air behind me.
I whip around.
Four men, armed, closing in. One’s already got the smaller cadet by the throat, blade pressed tight. The other three fan out, flanking fast. Eyes cold. Movements practised.
Not a mugging. Not random. This is an ambush.
“Well, well, well… look who we have here.” The voice slithers down my spine, familiar in the worst kind of way. The cadet jerks, barely, but it’s enough. I catch a glimpse past the hand at his throat. Kael.
My stomach drops. What the actual fuck, he shouldn’t be here. Not this far out.
“What do you want, Kael?” I snap. “What the hell are you doing here? Let him go.”
My fingers twitch, Threads flaring, ready. But Kael doesn’t move. Neither do I.
“Was gonna ask you the same thing,” he sneers, tone too casual to be anything but a threat. “We just happen to be passing through for the market tomorrow. Nice to see you’re still in white…”
My eyes drop to the Citadel uniform. I hadn’t even noticed it, hadn’t felt it, a chill drags down my spine. God, am I starting to become one of them?
Kael shifts beside me, boots dragging across the dry ground, and my gaze snaps back—his hand clamps the cadet’s neck, blade pressed firm to the pulse point. But it’s the missing fingers I notice next. Two gone. Jagged scars, half-healed.
“Oh yes,” he mocks, catching the look. “I should thank you for that. A lovely gift from those officers you were with the last time I saw you.” His grin twists, hungry and hollow. “I was wondering how I’d catch up. How I’d return the favour. And now here you are.”
Behind him, one of the others lets out a low chuckle.
“My friends,” Kael adds, without looking away from me, “also have a few things they’d like to say thank you for.”
Beside me, the taller cadet shifts, barely. Fingers twitching, Threads pulling close, readying. Kael clocks it immediately.
“Don’t you fucking dare.” His voice drops, lethal. “You try to use magic, and your friend here bleeds.”
He drags the knife tighter against the cadet’s throat, the skin dimpling beneath. The taller cadet goes pale—panic, swallowing whatever plan was forming.
I shoot them a look.Don’t.Don’t fucking do it. Buttoo late. They bolt.
Kael’s three friends don’t even hesitate—they're on him in seconds, blades flashing as they give chase.
Fuck.Do I go after them? I don’t move. The cadet who ran, he’s got magic. Kael’s friends don’t, still… three against one isn’t nothing.
But Kael’s the real problem. Always was. He’s the only Outerlander here who knows how to use his Threads just enough to be dangerous. Unpredictable, chaotic. The same kind of reckless I used to be.
“Just let the cadet go,” I call, shifting my weight slightly, just enough to keep balance if this goes sideways. “We can forget this happened. No officers here. You release the cadet and walk free.”
Kael tilts his head, eyes glittering. “Where’s the fun in that, Lyra?” He presses the blade tighter. The cadet’s shaking now, jaw clenched, terror plain across his face. “No. Now that you’re here, there’s something I want.” My jaw tightens. I don’t respond. That grin crawls back across his face. “I want you to teach me how to use my magic.”
“You want—what?” It slips out before I can catch it. “Are you kidding me? How the fuck do you expect me to do that?”
“You’ve been learning,” Kael says, eyes narrowing. “All that fancy shit they teach you behind the wall. Tell me how to do it. Tell me how to control it.”
“It takes months, Kael,” I snap. “There’s no spell that just suddenly makes it work.”
