Kathryn had left early for training, and all I had planned to do today was stay in the room.
That plan lasted ten minutes.
Evelyn arrived shortly after breakfast, which she had brought to the room herself, sparing me the cafeteria. I loved her for it. Then, she stood in the doorway with an expression that was gentle but not negotiable.
"The seer and the general want to see you," she said, "Don't ask me why darling, I wasn't given any additional information."
A thousand possibilities ran through my head, none of them good.
Still… who was I to refuse their call?
I got up.
We walked the deserted hallways together, everyone else at training, so the corridors were quiet. There were no side remarks, no pointed fingers, no insults. It was peaceful.
I counted my steps without meaning to, something I did when I needed to keep my thoughts from running ahead of me. The numbers gave me something to hold onto.
56
57
58
Evelyn glanced at me. "Are you okay?"
No.
Not even close.
"Yes," I mumbled. The lie tasted bitter.
I forced a smile, but it felt wrong on my face.
She didn't push.
68…
69…
My thoughts betrayed me anyway.
Do they want to send me away?
The idea slipped in quietly but refused to leave.
If they did…
If they decided I didn't belong here…
Would that really be so bad?
Maybe I could search for my mother.
Maybe I could leave all of this behind.
Maybe—
The thought had a pull to it that I did not entirely trust.
My mother had been out there for nearly two weeks. What assurance did I have that I was going to find her, or find her alive? It was painful to imagine but it was true.
Evelyn stopped outside a large wooden door. She gave me an encouraging look. "Good luck. I'll see you later."
I blinked at her. "You're not coming in with me?"
She shook her head. "I have training, Kira. I'm already late as it is."
Of course she did.
She had already done more than enough for me.
"Okay," I said quietly. "Thank you."
She gave me one last look, reassuring, or trying to be, and walked away.
I watched her go for a moment, then I turned back to the door.
My hand trembled as I reached for the knob.
There was no point knocking.
They already knew I was here.
They probably knew before I even left my room.
The moment I pushed the door open—
"That girl is worthless!"
The voice hit me like a physical blow.
I stopped in the doorway.
The man speaking had his back to me, so I couldn't identify who he was. "I'm doing her a favor by sending her to the humans. A hunter without powers? She's a joke. She shouldn't even be in Safe Land. She's cursed!"
My eyes burned.
I blinked rapidly, refusing to let the tears fall.
The first tear slipped anyway.
I wiped it quickly.
"How can anyone justify keeping her here when she—"
"That's enough."
The interruption cut through the tension instantly.
I recognized the voice immediately. Devon.
My pulse did something it had no business doing.
The man scoffed. His tone shifted into something more deliberately cruel. "Is she your new whore, demon boy?"
My stomach twisted violently.
Devon did not answer.
"Who knows?" the man continued, his voice dropping into something uglier. "Maybe her pussy would suck out your power. You could be useful to someone, at least."
A growl filled the room. It wasn't loud, but it was terrifying.
"Shut up. Or I will shut you up permanently. I have broken your ribs before. I am happy to remind you how easily it is done."
The room went completely silent.
The seer's voice broke through it.
"Now that you've both gotten that out of your systems… Kira, you may come in."
My eyes widened.
Of course.
She knew.
She always knew.
I pushed the door open fully and stepped inside.
The room was… strange. It was white like the clinic and entirely empty. No chairs, no table, no ornamentation of any kind. Just walls, floor, and the people standing in it. I filed in and pulled the door shut behind me.
Whose idea of interior design was this?
"How are you feeling, my dear?" the seer asked. Her tone was soft, but her four gold irises were fixed on me with all intensity, making the question feel less like small talk and more like an assessment.
"Fine," I said, which we both knew was not true.
I looked away from her immediately.
Her gaze was too much.
My eyes shifted to the others.
The man who had been speaking stood to one side — bald, broad, built along the same lines as the general, who was notably absent. He was looking at me with open contempt, and animosity. The more he looked at me, the more intense it got.
I shuddered slightly under his stare.
I looked away from him and found Devon. He was already watching me.
His crimson eyes sharp, like he was trying to figure something out. Something about me.
I thought about what I had heard outside the door. He had stopped that man mid-sentence, without hesitation. There had been no performance in it. He had just stopped him.
I did not know what to do with that.
Every instinct I had been given by years of being told what demons were said to distrust them, to assume the reason for whatever good they protrayed was self-serving. But I had been standing outside that door, and self-serving did not explain what I had heard.
Demons were evil. That was what I knew. That was what every account said. And yet he had been in the medical room when I woke up. He had caught me when I fell. He had told a man to shut up on my behalf in a tone that made clear he meant it.
I thought about my mother, and what she had always said: that it was the soul that mattered. Not the species, not the tags.
She had said it in different contexts. About humans, half-bloods, about people the village had been slow to accept because of weaknesses or disabilities. She meant it in each case.
I had not been treating Devon with anything like that standard.
The guilt arrived and settled.
"Kira," the seer said, pulling me back. "I am sure you are wondering why we called you here."
I nodded.
She gestured to the man with the ice-blue eyes. "This is Thomas, the fourth in command of Safe Land."
Of course he was.
That explained the attitude.
"The general is currently outside the walls," she continued. "So Thomas is standing in for him."
I nodded again.
"We called you here to discuss your training."
My chest tightened.
"You are a hunter by classification, but you have no powers and your physical strength, at the moment, is insufficient for the standard hunter training track. Our initial recommendation was to place you in Grade One with the humans."
The words registered slowly. Grade One. With the humans.
I said nothing, but something must have shown on my face because the seer let out a small sound that was almost a laugh.
"You don't seem pleased."
No.
I definitely wasn't.
"Well," she added, "neither was Devon."
Thomas made a sound of displeasure. Devon shot him a look that could've killed.
"Devon felt that placing you in Grade One would be degrading and disrespectful," the seer continued. "I agree with him."
I turned to Devon without planning to. Our eyes met for a second before I looked away. Something in my chest had shifted, and I did not want to examine it closely.
"However," the seer said, "we cannot place you in Grade Two either. Your lack of powers aside, you do not currently have the physical conditioning for that level of training. What you need is a foundation."
I nodded. This was fair. I knew it was fair, but it still sat uncomfortably.
"We have two options for you," the seer said. Her tone remained even, unrushed. "You train at Grade One with the humans. Or you train privately with Devon."
The room shifted.
Thomas turned sharply. "Seer, with respect, you cannot seriously be considering placing a hunter's life in the hands of a demon."
I glanced at Devon just in time to catch the flicker of hurt. It was gone in an instant but it was enough for me to realise he knew.
He knew what it felt like to be in a room full of people who had already decided what you were. To have your presence questioned before you had done anything. To be judged, ridiculed, just like me.
A hunter without a gift. An abomination. A joke.
I had also been the person doing it to him.
I had called him a demon to his face repeatedly, as if it were an argument. I had told him he was evil and the reason the world was falling apart. He had stood there and absorbed it, and then gone ahead and pushed back on a decision that would have humiliated me, with no obligation to do so.
The guilt that had arrived a few minutes ago settled deeper.
"Thomas." The seer's voice was not loud, but it was final. "You are not the one who determines who is trustworthy here. Know your place."
Thomas lowered his head. "My apologies, Seer."
The seer turned back to me. "So, Kira. What do you choose?"
I thought it through plainly.
Grade One with the humans would follow me for the rest of my time in Safe Land. Every hunter would know. Whatever credibility I had left, which was not much, would be gone.
Training with Devon was not safe. I did not fully trust him. I did not know his reasons for any of what he had done, and reasons mattered.
But reasons or not, he had been there for me. That was enough for now.
"I want to train with Devon," I said. "If he agrees."
Thomas looked disgusted.
I kept my eyes on the seer.
She looked at Devon. "Devon?"
He held still for a moment. Then he gave a single nod. "I accept."
"Then it is decided," the seer said. "You may go."
I turned with full speed and walked out, finally being able to breathe properly
The corridor outside was still empty, and my footsteps remained the only sound. I walked and did not count this time, because my thoughts were too loud for numbers to help.
I had no idea what training with Devon would look like, or whether it would help, or whether I had just handed him some kind of leverage I was not yet aware of.
An ache formed between my brows.
Lord, I hope I made the right choice.