Once the door closed behind Cassian, silence returned to the room. Adela remained standing there, her hand still hanging in the air as if she were still adjusting clothes that were no longer there. She sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, letting her gaze drift into emptiness.
She couldn't stop her mind from traveling back years, to the day she met him.
Adela clenched the sheets tightly, still feeling the echo of a pain that time could not erase. It wasn't the cold of the chains that hurt the most when she remembered, but the hollow ache in her chest as she relived the moment her own parents handed her over.
She could still see their faces, filled with disgusted fear, when they discovered that the magic she had awakened was not "normal". To them, their own daughter had become something different, something dangerous they didn't want in their home. They sold her without hesitation, choosing the gold of traffickers over the bond of blood with an "anomaly".
That day, her world ended. In the cage, gagged and waiting to be auctioned off like a broken object, Adela no longer expected anything from anyone. Until he appeared.
A boy, not much older than her, stood before the bars after leaving a trail of silence and bodies in his wake. He didn't look at her with the disgust of her parents, nor with the lust of the buyers, nor with the pity of a hero.
His gaze was calm, almost familiar.
He opened the lock effortlessly and remained there, waiting.
"The door is open," he said with a calmness that disarmed her. "You can run and try your luck outside, or you can come with me. Your choice."
In that moment, surrounded by death and betrayal, Adela saw in those eyes the only trace of warmth she had ever known in her life. She didn't choose the freedom of the streets; she chose to follow the shadow of that boy who accepted her as she was.
He pulled her out of that hell and gave her a place, a warmth no one else had ever offered her.
At first, it was just the two of them, but Elizabeth didn't take long to appear. Adela quickly realized that Elizabeth was useful, while she—beyond being a servant—felt she couldn't help him at all despite everything he gave her.
She knew Cassian didn't "need" help—he had proven that if he wanted something to happen, it simply would—but that didn't stop Adela from pushing herself to the limit.
She forced herself through the training of her magic circles and moved through the shadows to gather people who would work for him, just as Elizabeth did with Nexus.
During that time, there was also another woman who used to come bother Cassian… a princess from a neighboring empire who, back then, was despised and considered useless by her own family.
What she never understood was that the power she eventually obtained—the one that allowed her to rise within her lineage—was neither luck nor destiny; it was Cassian who pulled the strings in the shadows to grant it to her.
She had no idea who the man helping her truly was, and perhaps that was for the best. The moment she felt powerful and secure in her position, she quickly forgot about the "second son of a count," discarding him as if he were no longer useful to her ambitions.
Adela clenched her fists tightly. For noble girls like Valeria, Cassane, or that princess, he was a fascinating mystery—a trophy to conquer or simply someone beneath them.
But for Adela, he was the only one who had given her a place in the world when her own blood had cast her aside like trash.
…
Meanwhile, in Sylvia Sterling's office.
"Cassian Varkas… I thought you wouldn't come to see me anymore," she said. Although she had trembled in terror before him last time, she now looked imposing and confident behind her desk.
"That was the plan," I replied lazily, "but Elena has been watching me without even trying to hide it. I figured it was better to come and see what you want once and for all."
Sylvia let out a short, dry laugh.
"That girl doesn't know how to be subtle. I only asked her to get close enough to you to stay informed about what you're doing. You should understand that leaving someone like you unsupervised while attending this institution is not something I can allow as the headmistress."
"We both know that's just an excuse, Sylvia," I cut her off, narrowing my eyes. "All you're going to do is make me angry with all that beating around the bush, so tell me the truth."
She sighed, setting aside her professional mask for a moment.
"Well, you can't blame me for being curious. If you're not a mage and you don't use aura… how were you able to do what you did?"
"I thought we already had this conversation," I reminded her coldly.
"No," she replied, leaning forward. "You only stated your points, but you didn't explain anything. I'm someone at the top of this world, Cassian… or at least I always thought so. You can't blame me for wanting to know more."
"You're lucky you're Sera's grandmother…" I muttered, keeping my gaze fixed on her.
Sylvia let out a small laugh, brushing off the comment.
"Actually, I'm her great-aunt, but that's just a minor detail. Besides, I prefer being called grandmother; they're both good kids, you know? I'm glad to see you care about Sera."
I leaned back in the chair, making it clear my patience had limits.
"I'm not going to explain who I am or anything like that, Sylvia. Don't waste your time on it."
She remained silent for a moment, watching me with a different intensity. She leaned in a little more, breaking that barrier of professionalism she tried so hard to maintain, and her voice dropped to almost a whisper.
"You know… I've never been interested in men. They always seemed predictable, boring. But you're different," she confessed, her gaze running over me as if I were a rare specimen. "You make me curious in a way I can't ignore. It almost makes me want to experiment with you, to see what lies beneath that facade."
She rose from her seat as she spoke those words and began to circle the desk, approaching me in a bold and seductive manner. Her pace was slow and deliberate, invading that personal space no student would dare to encroach upon with the Academy Director.
When she reached my side, she didn't stop. She leaned over me, resting one hand on the arm of my chair and the other on the desk, trapping me in her line of sight. Her perfume—a blend of wood and something floral, far more intoxicating—flooded my senses as her face came within inches of mine.
Her intentions were clear: beneath that supposed personal fascination, the need to unravel the origin of my power remained hidden. Her eyes searched for any trace of doubt or nervousness in mine, hoping that the closeness of a woman of her status and beauty would be enough to make my defenses crumble.
"Well, Cassian?" she whispered, with a smile that was half invitation and half challenge. "Are you going to let me keep wondering, or are you going to show me what you're really hiding?"
"Don't expect that if you sleep with me, I'll help you break through your limit," I snapped coldly.
She looked at me amusedly, without a trace of the offense any other woman of her status would have felt at such a snub. On the contrary, her eyes sparkled with renewed ambition.
"But you can do it," she replied with a confidence that bordered on arrogance.
I didn't answer, but she seemed to take my silence as an affirmation. Without a moment's hesitation, she circled the desk and proceeded to sit on top of me, pinning me against the chair as she sought my lips with an almost obsessive intensity.
I wasn't the type to let others take the initiative for long.
I gripped her tightly around the waist, halting her advance for a moment to force her to look me in the eyes, showing her that, even though she was on top of me, she wasn't the one calling the shots. Then, I returned her kiss with an intensity that left her breathless, taking complete control of the situation and turning her attempt at manipulation into a forced surrender.
Sylvia let out a stifled gasp when my hand clamped firmly around the back of her neck, forcing her to arch against me. The Headmistress's desk, a symbol of her authority at the Academy, became the stage for her depravity.
Her eyes, once calculating and cold, clouded over completely as she clung desperately to my shoulders.
Our clothes gradually slipped away, leaving her skin exposed to my mercy in the office light.
I traced every curve of her body with my hands, sending waves of pleasure that made her shudder, until my fingers reached that spot between her legs; she was more than ready, drenched in the desire she had tried to disguise as intellectual curiosity.
I stared at her, forcing her to hold my gaze to confirm that this was what she truly wanted.
"I need it, Cassian…" she whispered, her voice breaking, losing all trace of her pride.
With those words, I hesitated no longer. I entered her with a force that drew a sharp moan from her, completely shattering her composure.
"I can't believe I missed out on this for so long," she managed to say, lost in a pleasure that overwhelmed her, desperately gasping for the air I denied her with each of my thrusts.
Her hands dug into my shoulders, her body arching beneath mine in a futile attempt to regain her rhythm. She was completely defenseless, her facade as an unflappable principal shattered on her own desk.
"You're… incredible," she moaned, her eyes rolled back, completely lost in the intensity with which I was taking her.
There was no gentleness in my response. I made sure every movement pushed her to the limit again and again until her pleas turned into ragged gasps.
When I finally finished, the silence in the office was absolute, broken only by her erratic breathing.
"No one… has ever made me feel this way," she whispered, trying unsuccessfully to compose herself, her hands still trembling on the desk.
"Just so you know, this won't change anything between us," I told her in an icy voice as I finished adjusting my clothes.
She looked at me amusedly from the desk, her breathing still somewhat ragged and her hair tousled, but slowly regaining that spark of superiority she so loved to flaunt.
"Mmm… I know," she replied with a crooked smile, letting her gaze sweep over me one last time. "But you're going to have to come see me every now and then, Cassian. You can't leave a woman this curious hanging."
"Oh, and don't get mad at Elena," Sylvia added from her desk, slipping back into her commanding tone with a mischievous smile. "She was just doing what I asked her to do."
I left the office without answering her, letting the silence of the hallways greet me. I knew Sylvia wouldn't let it go, but for now I'd dealt with her. However, after taking a few steps, the image of Sera came to mind and I felt a pang of unease I hadn't expected.
What would she say if she knew the kind of "encounter" I'd just had with her grandmother? The situation was, to say the least, twisted. I shook my head to banish those thoughts; in my original world, hierarchies and ages blurred in the face of power, but in this place, the family complications of the nobility were a constant headache.
I walked toward the private gardens, trying to wipe any trace of Sylvia's scent from my clothes. Margery had a nose too keen for my own good, and the last thing I needed today was a scene of jealousy.