Adrian woke to the weight of Lilith's hand on his chest.
She was still sitting beside him on the bed, her legs folded beneath her, her amber eyes fixed on his face.
She had been watching him sleep. He could tell by the stillness of her, the way her breathing did not rise and fall because she did not need to breathe at all.
He should have found it unsettling. Instead, he found himself not wanting her to look away.
"How long have you been awake?" he asked.
"I never sleep, Adrian."
He knew that. He had known it since the road, since the nights when she sat by the fire while he slept, watching the darkness for things that wanted to eat him. But it still surprised him sometimes. The way she was always there. The way she never left.
He did not move her hand from his chest and she did not take it away.
He eventually stood up to prepare for classes. He glanced at the note on the bedside table but left it where it was. He would deal with it later.
---
The dining hall was loud when they arrived. First-year students filled the long tables, their voices bouncing off the stone walls. Ethan was near the windows, his back to the wall, his coat unbuttoned. Tessa sat across from him, her hair escaping its tie, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
Adrian slid onto the bench beside Ethan. Lilith sat beside him, her hands folded on the table.
"You look like you didn't sleep," Adrian said.
"I didn't." Ethan grabbed a roll from the basket. "Studying monster tracks. Do you know how many ways a claw can scrape against bark? Forty-seven. I counted."
Tessa snorted. "You were playing cards with Marcus until midnight."
"Cards are educational. Teaches strategy."
"So does sleeping."
Ethan reached for the bread and handed a piece to Lilith.
She took it and held it but did not eat.
Ethan watched her for a second then turned to Adrian. "Does she ever...?"
Adrian looked at Lilith. She was motionless, the bread untouched in her fingers. He had never seen her eat. Not once.
On the road, she had refused food. In the boarding house, she had sat while he ate.
He had not thought about it then. Now, watching her hold the bread like it was unfamiliar, something clicked into place.
He thought about what she was. A vampire. The stories said they drank blood. He had never seen her do it. He had never seen her feed at all.
His stomach tightened. Not from fear but from the realization that there was a part of her he had not asked about.
She met his eyes. Her expression did not change. She was waiting for him to respond to the question.
He thought about it. She was a vampire. She would eventually need to feed right?.
However, the idea of her drinking blood did not have much effect on him.
He didn't really care if a stranger got drained to death. But he was just curious if she really did go out to drink blood.
He held her gaze for a moment longer, then looked away. He would ask her later. Not here.
"She doesn't eat," he said.
Ethan shrugged. "Must save a lot on food."
Tessa threw a piece of bread at him. "You're disgusting."
"You're the one throwing food."
Lilith turned the bread over in her fingers. "It smells like ash. The grain was stored too close to a fire. The smoke permeated the husks. It gives the bread a bitter undertone." She set it down. "The cooks should store their grain in a separate cellar."
Ethan stared at her. Then he looked at his roll. He sniffed it. "I don't smell anything."
"That is because you are human," Lilith said.
Tessa laughed. "She's got you there."
Ethan put his roll down. "Now I feel like I'm eating ash bread."
"You were eating ash bread before," Lilith said. "You simply did not know it."
Adrian hid a smile behind his hand. The knot in his stomach loosened.
He reached over and took the bread from her hand, then ate it.
Adrian watched Ethan and Tessa argue. It was a sight he couldn't get used to. He had not had this in his old life—people who sat beside him, who saved him bread or waited for him at the bottom of the stairs.
He had been alone then, but he was not alone now.
---
The Theory room was half-empty when they arrived. Professor Vane stood at the front, arranging papers, her grey hair pulled back, her sharp eyes scanning the students as they filed in.
Adrian took a seat near the middle. Lilith sat beside him. She did not take notes. She never did. But she listened. He could feel her attention, sharp and focused, even when her face seemed uninterested.
Vane began her lecture. "Noble houses. Alliances. Marriages. Betrayals. The empire was not built on strength alone. It was built on contracts. Every noble family knows who they can trust and who they cannot."
Adrian listened. House Cross. House Vorne. House Ashford. The names were familiar. He knew who they were, what they wanted, who they had crushed to get where they were.
He thought about Serena. Her father's visits to the Greystone house. The way she had smiled at him when they were children. The way her smile had changed when his father died.
He pushed the thought away and concentrated on the lecture.
When class ended, he gathered his things. The other students filed out. He was pulling on his coat when he saw Cassius leaning against the doorframe.
Waiting.
The students who passed him gave him space. Cassius Vorne didn't wait for anyone. He was always first out, always alone. But here he was.
Adrian walked toward him. But first he told Lilith to enter the soul space.
Cassius pushed off the wall when Adrian got closer and fell into step beside him.
"The noble dormitory," Cassius said. "Private training room. No audience."
"You don't want people watching?"
"I don't want people talking." Cassius's jaw tightened. "If I fight you in the yards, everyone will have an opinion. I'm not interested in opinions."
Adrian glanced at him. "Then what are you interested in?"
Cassius didn't answer until they reached the noble dormitory. The building loomed ahead, older than the rest of the Academy, its stone darker, its windows taller.
Portraits of old families lined the walls inside. Adrian recognized the names. Vorne. Ashford. Cross.
"I'm interested in the truth." Cassius finally said.
He pushed open the training room door.
The room was wide, the walls lined with weapons. Real blades in the corner. The floor was scuffed from years of use.
Cassius tossed his coat onto a bench and rolled up his sleeves. "No audience. No one to impress. Just us."
Adrian drew his blade.
"I can work with that ," he said.
Cassius smiled. "Good."
---
The fight was short.
Cassius moved first, blade cutting low. Adrian blocked and gave ground, watching his movements.
Cassius pressed forward, swinging his sword with precision. Each strike faster than the last.
Adrian couldn't match his speed. But he could read him. The hitch in his breathing before a heavy strike. The flicker of his eyes before a feint. He had learned this in the Scar. Every fighter had patterns.
Cassius swung wide and Adrian moved inside his guard.
His blade caught Cassius's shoulder.
Cassius stumbled back, a flash of surprise on his face. Then he smiled. "Good."
He came back harder.
Adrian gave ground again but Cassius's blade was faster and heavier now. Adrian blocked, but the force drove him back. His heel caught on the floor and he stumbled.
Cassius's blade was at his throat.
Adrian lay on the floor, chest heaving. His shoulder throbbed and his knuckles were raw.
Cassius stood over him, breathing hard, a thin line of blood on his cheek.
"You did well," Cassius said.
Adrian stared at the ceiling. "I was close."
Cassius offered his hand. Adrian took it and Cassius pulled him to his feet.
"Next time, I won't go easy."
Adrian picked up his blade. "You're just bluffing. I beat you at the assessment"
Cassius's mouth twitched. "I've been practicing since then. The score is equal now."
He crossed to the weapon rack and took down a cloth, wiping his blade clean. Adrian watched him.
Without the audience, without the performance, Cassius was different. Just a boy with a blade. He only cared about being stronger than anyone else.
"Why are you being friendly with me?" Adrian asked. "Aren't you nobles supposed to ignore those below you?"
Cassius didn't look up. "I don't care about any of those. Besides, I like the way you fight."
"You don't fight like you have something to prove. You fight like you're trying to survive. Most people here have never been afraid. But I can tell that you have." He set the cloth down. "It makes you dangerous."
He picked up his coat. "It was a good spar, Adrian. We'll do this again when when we've gotten stronger"
He flashed a smile and walked out the door.
---
The corridor was empty when Adrian stepped out. His shoulder ached. He flexed his fingers as he walked.
A figure stepped out from between two columns.
Serena.
She stood in his path, arms crossed, dark hair loose. Her friends were nowhere in sight.
Adrian stopped.
"You fought in private," she said. "I told you I wanted to watch."
He said nothing.
She stepped closer. "You were supposed to fight outside instead you both fought in a locked room with no audience." Her eyes moved over his face. "What happened in there?"
"We sparred. And I lost"
"You lost? But you won during the assessment."
Then she smiled. "But, that's interesting outcome. I would've loved to watch. Either way, I'll still see what you can do. You better get stronger by then"
She walked toward him. Her boots made no sound on the stone. "Oh, just a reminder. You're being watched. Lord Cross has been asking about you. His son lost to you. He won't forget."
Adrian was quiet
She stopped a few feet away. Close enough that he could see the faint lines at the corners of her eyes, the sharp edge of her jaw. "You're not the first commoner to rise through the ranks. The ones who survive learn to watch their backs."
"Why are you telling me this?" He finally asked.
She studied him. Her eyes lingered on his face, searching.
For a moment, something flickered in her expression. Recognition? No. She wouldn't have remembered him, he wasn't the same he was years ago. Besides, he was nothing to her.
"You're interesting," she said. "I want to see what happens."
She turned and walked away before he could answer.
Adrian watched her go. Through the connection, Lilith's voice came, soft in his mind.
'She doesn't remember you.'
He started walking. 'No. She doesn't, and I'd like to keep it that way.'
---
The dormitory was quiet when he returned. Lilith came out of his soul space and sat on her bed, watching him.
He pulled off his boots and lay back. His shoulder throbbed. He stared at the ceiling.
"You fought well," she said.
"Not well enough. I lost."
"But you learned."
He was quiet for a moment. The cracks in the plaster spread above him like veins.
"What happened between you and Serena?" Lilith suddenly asked.
He was quiet for a long moment. He knew he couldn't avoid this conversation. The memory was old and buried deep inside.
But she was waiting for an answer.
"I grew up with her," he said. "Our families were close. Her father visited mine. She came with him sometimes."
Lilith waited.
He looked at the wall. "We were betrothed when I was twelve."