Page 474 of The Academy of Blood & Shadow

"You won't." Too fast. Too certain. My chest tightens.

"How do you know?"

Rhyven looks at me. "Because you haven't." There. No praise. No speech. Fact. Somehow worse.

I look at the board again. First-Year Response. My name. Seventeen people. Wonderful. Rhyven moves on. No ceremony. No discussion. Apparently my life has changed. Again.

The rest of the briefing is logistics. Emergency rally points. Secondary corridors. Response kits. If the Academy loses internal communication, runners replace crystals. If the western tower falls, command moves east. If dragons cannot fly, ground protocols activate. If ward lines fail, do not defend every inch.

Protect people. Protect inner structures. Give ground when necessary. Vayne's lesson. Again.

Everything has a replacement now. Every route. Every role. Every person. That is what makes me uneasy. It feels less like preparation. More like learning how to live after people leave.

Sky Wing briefing ends at nine. Rhyven stops me before I leave. "Stay." Mara stays too. Three other students. My new little nightmare.

Rhyven gives us a scenario. No notice. No planning.

"Western residence breach. Chiefs unavailable. Mara has dragon containment." He looks at me. "You have nineteen first-years."

"I thought seventeen."

"Two civilians joined."

"That's cheating."

"War is famous for fairness." Vayne.

I point. "You stole that."

"Useful." He starts the timer. I hate him.

Ten minutes later, I have divided nineteen imaginary people into three groups. Two runners. One medic-trained first-year. Three people who can reinforce wards. Five who can fight. Eight who absolutely should not be near a front line. That last group is the hardest. Because they still want to help.

"Where do they go?" Rhyven asks.

"Inner residence."

"Why."