Arden.
A small town on the far edge of the academy's territory. Close enough to reach on foot, distant enough to feel like somewhere else entirely.
The night had fully settled by the time they arrived. Violette and Selena walked ahead, their steps unhurried. Azrael followed with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the sky.
It was deeper tonight. Darker. Thousands of stars scattered across the black like fragments of something broken, the two moons hanging high. One deep blue, the other pale and luminous. Casting soft silver across the road.
Azrael: "How did I end up in something this troublesome?"
He had walked into a nest of nobles, hidden agendas, and expectations he hadn't agreed to. A swamp dressed in marble and good lighting.
And yet he didn't regret it. Not really. Whatever this was, it was better than what he had left behind.
Ahead, Selena's voice dropped. Low and controlled, calibrated to not carry.
Selena: "Why did you waste a position on someone like him?"
Not hatred in it. Something more deliberate.
Selena: "I mean no insult. But I cannot trust his abilities. I cannot give him my back in battle. If we are to be comrades I need certainty."
Violette: "You see weakness because you are used to strength being handed to you."
Selena's eyes narrowed slightly.
Violette: "When you give nothing to someone who has nothing, they remain empty. But when you give opportunity to someone who has lived with nothing..." She glanced briefly back toward Azrael. "You create devotion."
Selena said nothing.
Violette: "That boy has a survival instinct unlike anything I've seen. A man who desires survival that desperately will always find the most optimal path. That burning will in his eyes. Don't you think having someone like that at your side would be useful?"
Selena: "Useful. Or dangerous?"
Violette: "Better to have at your side someone who would defy the world to live, than to stand against him when he has nothing left to lose. Secure that piece on your board, Princess. Because someone willing to do anything for survival is either your greatest shield..."
Selena: "Or your worst enemy."
They resumed walking.
Behind them Azrael was still looking at the stars. He had heard nothing.
Arden appeared ahead. Warm lights, laughter, movement. The moment they stepped into town the atmosphere shifted entirely. Students in civilian clothes moving freely, professors at a café on the main street talking about nothing serious, faces relaxed in a way that faces rarely were back at the academy.
So this is what normal looks like.
They crossed the main plaza and Azrael stopped.
A tree stood at its center.
Colossal. Its trunk wide and pale gray, not the gray of decay but of something old and certain. Branches stretching high and wide, carrying leaves in colors that had no business existing together. Sky blue, pastel pink, soft violet. It shouldn't have worked. It did anyway.
Around it food stalls and kiosks, merchants preparing sweets and baked goods, the smell of fresh bread moving through the night air.
His stomach tightened quietly. At the infirmary they had given him flatbread. That had already felt like something. This was different in a way he didn't have the vocabulary for. He said nothing. He just looked.
Violette talked cheerfully about her student days. Azrael pretended to listen and thought about where she was taking them.
A building, slightly elevated and set apart from the rest. Larger than the others. Wood and marble together, clearly maintained with more care than its neighbors. They went inside. Incense in the reception, a young woman behind the desk with square glasses and dark blue hair, black attire, quiet professionalism.
Azrael: "Who is she?"
Selena: "The secretary."
Violette: "Maya! She handles all the paperwork I refuse to touch."
Azrael exhaled slowly. That tracked.
They took the stairs. Eighth floor. The top. Three apartments, no more.
Violette: "You're lucky. This was the last one available."
He understood immediately. He would step aside. He wasn't going to take something that belonged to royalty.
Violette unlocked the door.
The apartment was vast. Marble floors. Deep black leather sofas. A kitchen with equipment he had never seen before. And a balcony. Open view of the entire city, the colossal tree glowing below under the twin moons.
He stood in the doorway and said nothing.
Letting this go would be painful. He stayed silent anyway.
Selena moved toward the bedroom. They followed. A massive bed at the center, perfectly prepared, mattress that looked like it would swallow a person whole. Everything he had never once pictured having.
Violette clapped her hands once.
Violette: "Enjoy, you two! You're officially partners. Youth only happens once. Make the most of it. And no screams of passion in the middle of the night. I'm next door."
She tossed two keys. One to Selena. One to Azrael.
Violette: "Good night!"
She left.
The door closed.
Silence.
There's only one bed.
Later, Azrael sat on the edge of the bed freshly showered, hair tied loosely with a few strands falling forward, black bathrobe from the bathroom. From behind the closed door he could hear water running.
His mind went somewhere it had no business going.
His face went red immediately.
He stood, walked to the balcony, and let the night air handle it.
The city glowed below. The tree shimmered with reflected moonlight. He had once stood in streets like those and cursed everything visible from them. Now he stood above it all. Alive. With a key in his pocket.
He turned to go back inside and froze.
Selena. White bathrobe. Silver hair still wet, falling across her shoulders. The moonlight doing what moonlight does with silver hair.
He cut that thought off at the root and looked somewhere else.
She gestured for him to follow. They sat in the living room.
Selena: "Tea?"
Azrael: "No. What do you want?"
She stood anyway. Walked to the kitchen. Opened a drawer. Took out a long silver blade and concealed it in her robe without ceremony. Then she walked back, sat beside him, and wrapped her arms around him from behind in a movement so calm and precise it was finished before he could respond.
The blade pressed against his throat.
Cold. Exact. One wrong motion and it would not need to be deliberate.
Azrael: "What is this?"
Selena: "I will always carry a blade. If you attempt anything. If you even think of crossing a line. I will not hesitate."
He processed this. Looked at the blade. Looked at the city through the balcony door.
That's fair.
Azrael: "I would never touch you. I have no intention of doing so."
She withdrew the blade and concealed it again. Stood. Adjusted her robe.
Selena: "Good. I take the bed. You take the couch. Objections?"
Azrael: "No."
And so passed the first night of Azrael and Selena in Arden.
The twin moons outside. The city below. The tree glowing in the dark.
A world beautiful enough to look at.
Sharp enough to cut.