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That part was true. A skilled Cloak could hide movement, scent, and sound across an entire squad, and Silvaria had left Advanced training one of the strongest in years. Skill had never been why Corian refused her. She'd first raised the idea of transferring during our second year together, not long after Nephrite's league ranking started drawing outside attention, and Corian had understood, faster than I had, that she wanted closer access to whatever came with the name attached to it rather than the people carrying it.

"You wanted the name," he said. "You never wanted the people carrying it."

I remembered a court supper our first year together, Silvaria correcting a visiting lord's wife with a soft laugh and a possessive hand around my arm. Prince Nykos, loud enough for the room to hear exactly who stood beside her. I'd mistaken it for pride at the time. It took six weeks of silence between Corian and me, and Halver quietly bracing for the squad to break apart, before I saw what she actually wanted. Only because the three of them waited it out longer than I'd deserved did she fail.

Silvaria's gaze cooled before her smile recovered.

"Your household seems to have gotten complicated enough without me. Does your fiancée know you're living with another woman?"

Jade's fingers stopped around the coin crystal. Surprise crossed her face, followed by something tighter that disappeared the moment she lowered her eyes, though not quickly enough that I missed it.

Corian's father had arranged the engagement while we were still in Basic, a match that joined two influential families and looked impressive in an announcement neither participant had been asked to approve. Corian had never wanted it, disliked the woman personally, and had delayed every attempt at setting a date for as long as he'd been able to. He spoke to his supposed fiancée only when duty or family pressure forced them into the same room. None of that would have been obvious to Jade, who'd just discovered that the man she lived with carried an entire future attached to his name that none of us had thought to mention.

Smoke poured from beneath Jade's sleeve before anyone else at the table reacted, gathering fast at her side until Ashter stood solid beneath it, ridges lifted along his spine and a low, rolling growl building in his chest, aimed at Silvaria with no ambiguity in it at all. Two of the Peace Keepers near the bar turned at the sound.

Jade's hand found the ridge between his ears without looking, the motion absent, automatic, the same rhythm she'd have used on any ordinary day.

"Not yet," she murmured, quiet enough that I doubted Silvaria caught the words at all.

The growl didn't fully stop. It dropped low enough to pass for a rumble instead of a warning, and Ashter stayed exactly where he was, eyes fixed on Silvaria while Jade kept stroking behind his ear like her hand had forgotten it was doing anything at all.

Corian's face hardened. "My fiancée and my household are none of your concern."

"Perhaps not, but the court notices these things even when you don't." Silvaria turned to Jade at last. "Congratulations on surviving your first deployment."

The words were civil enough. Her tone made them sound like praise for a child who'd managed to cross a room without falling, delivered carefully enough that any objection would make the rest of us look unreasonable for minding.

Jade set the crystal down beside her plate. "Thank you."

Silvaria's gaze dropped to the parcels stacked beneath the table. "And your first trip into the city as well. Quite a busy day."

Alex's chair scraped back as he leaned forward. "You can leave now."

She looked at him like the furniture had spoken. "I was talking to Jade."

"No," Jade said, before Alex could answer, quiet but steady. "You were talking around me."

Silvaria's eyebrows rose. For the first time since she'd approached, something genuine crossed her face, though it wasn't any kinder than the performance had been. "Maybe Nephrite will suit you after all."

"Silvaria," I said, and her attention returned to me with the same familiarity she'd arrived with. Worse than hostility, because some part of my body still recognized pieces of it, even knowing exactly how little any of it had meant without an audience there to appreciate the prince sitting beside her.

"Yes?"

"You've made your point."

"I usually do." She let her hand drop from the chair and gave me the faint, private smile that used to be enough to pull me after her without a second thought. "It was good to see you, Nykos."

A year ago, I'd have followed her out to keep the peace, then come back furious at Corian for making me choose between her and the squad in the first place.

"Go back to your table."

The warmth in her face cooled by a fraction. She wished Corian a pleasant afternoon, ignored Alex and Halver entirely, and gave Jade one last assessing look before returning to the Peace Keepers waiting near the bar.

I used to think it was chance that every conversation with Silvaria left Nephrite quieter than she'd found us. Watching Jade close her fingers around the coin crystal again, Alex lower himself slowly back into his chair, and Corian's jaw stay locked toward the door, I knew better now. She'd always understood exactly where to leave the damage, and exactly how long to wait before checking whether it had taken.

Our table stayed quiet after that. Alex stopped stealing food. Halver watched Jade without making it obvious he was doing it. Corian faced the door with the rigid patience he used when his anger had nowhere useful left to go. Ashter held his ground a moment longer, ridges slowly lowering, before he poured back into smoke and vanished beneath Jade's sleeve without her seeming to notice the exact moment he went. Jade fastened her jacket higher, until it covered most of the collar again.

We left soon after, carrying what remained of a day that had felt easy right up until Silvaria found us. Jade walked half a pace ahead with Halver, one hand closed around the coin crystal like she needed proof something still belonged to her.