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He shakes his head. “They don’t see who she is. They just see what she could be—like that’s something to fear.”

My throat tightens. “Not who she chooses to be.”

“Exactly.” A long pause. Then Vaughn says, quieter than before, “If they hurt her, I swear to the gods, I’ll?—”

“I know,” I cut in, voice firm. “Me too.”

“If they try to break her, they’re going to find out exactly how many people are willing to burn things down for her.”

My gaze flicks to the empty space beside us—the spot where Kai was earlier. He couldn’t wait around anymore. Said nothing, just disappeared into the shadows, slipping away like a ghost no one could stop. I didn’t ask where he was going. I didn’t need to.

If there was even a slim chance of him seeing her—sensingher—he was going to take it. No matter the rules. No matter the risks.

And gods help the Keepers if something happens to her while he’s watching.

There’s a reason even seasoned instructors flinch when Kai goes still. He’s not loud. Not volatile. But under all that control, there’s something ancient. Something monstrous. And if Lilith screams?

He won’t just burn things down.

He’llendthem.

Vaughn stares past me suddenly, his posture stiffening. “Look.”

I follow his gaze out the narrow window at the end of the hall.

Bennett walks across the courtyard with two Keepers at her sides their blue tunics a violent contrast against the dark sea of student cloaks. She doesn’t look up. Doesn’t glance toward the building, toward us. Just keeps walking, like none of this touches her. Like we’re not even here.

“I don’t like this,” Vaughn mutters. “She hasn’t said a word to us since she called for the Keepers. It’s like Operation Nightfall never existed.”

My throat tightens.

“We were hand-picked,” he continues, voice hardening. “Chosen to handle the academy’s darkest secrets. Trusted with things no one else could touch. But now? They’ve locked us out like liabilities.”

He’s not wrong. The Keepers are supposed to maintain the Balance. And we—the Protectors—exist to guard them while they do it. But right now?

Right now, it feels like we’ve been discarded.

I used to believe in the structure. The hierarchy. The purpose behind every rule, every role. But lately?

It feels like we’re soldiers left outside the battlefield watching the war begin without us, and the person we’d die for trapped on the front line.

“Simon!”

I turn at the sound of my name.

Hannah, a second-year student, is hurrying down the hall toward me. Her glasses are crooked, her expression pinched with worry.

She doesn’t even glance toward the sealed door. “Do you know what’s going on? No one will tell us anything!” I tense. Her panic is real—and familiar. It’s been building in my chest since the moment the Keepers arrived. Since they locked Lilithaway without explanation and made it clear we weren’t welcome inside.

But panic won’t help her. And the truth? That would only put Lilith in more danger.

“I don’t know anything yet,” I tell her gently. “But I promise, the second I do, I’ll let you know.”

She searches my face, eyes wide and desperate for something solid to hold onto—reassurance, clarity, direction. All the things I’m supposed to give her. I’m a mentor. The one they’re meant to look to when the world goes sideways.

And I’m lying to her.

I hate how much it stings.