Evaline:
At so point, the cold night air beca even sharper. Maybe it was the weather itself, or maybe it were the secrets that Kieran was unraveling.
And as if I wasn’t surprised enough, he ended up revealing another one.
"You know, this isn’t the first ti I have seen soone in that condition," he whispered, and while his voice didn’t waver, there was a heaviness in his confession.
My heart was pounding as I asked, "What do you an?"
He let out a slow breath and fixed his eyes on the gravel path ahead. The moonlight was casting half of his face in silver, while the other half was in deep shadow. He was looking like soone torn between two choices - between truth and silence.
He was silent for a while this ti. Then, he finally spoke. "Last December," he began quietly, "a final-year student was found Soul Dead."
I blinked. "What?"
"In one of the abandoned classrooms in the basent wing of the old Potion block. We never figured out how he got there or what happened to him. He was supposed to be in class. Professors said he had shown up earlier that day. Then he was just... gone. Until he wasn’t."
I stared at him, completely in shock.
"It’s been nearly a year," he continued, "and we still have no real answers. The area didn’t give us anything useful. And if his friends knew anything... they didn’t say a word. Not one."
"Not even under pressure?" I asked, trying not to sound as horrified as I was feeling.
"They were questioned, yes. Even mind-probed... carefully... but all we got were fragnts. Nothing that could be pinned down. It’s like whoever or whatever was behind it... knew how to clean up every trace."
I didn’t realize how tight my fists were clenched until my fingers began to ache. "You kept it a secret?"
"Yes," he admitted. "His parents gave us permission to contain the information. We couldn’t risk panic, especially when we didn’t know what we were dealing with."
"And now this," I murmured. "A second case."
He gave a curt nod. "Which ans it wasn’t just so freak, one-ti incident. This... this is sothing real. And ongoing."
I didn’t know what to say. Nothing could have prepared for any of this. When I enrolled in the Academy, I thought the biggest dangers I was going to face would be unpredictable potions or maybe the occasional wild beast during outdoor lessons. Not... this. Not soul-stealing, deathly silence, and secrets buried so deep they had started to rot.
We sat there for a while, not speaking. The garden seed to hold its breath with us as the night started pressing down with its weight.
And then, without really aning to, I blurted out a question that had been nagging for days.
"What about the warriors?" I asked.
He glanced at , looking puzzled.
"The ones who went missing a few weeks ago," I clarified. "I overheard a conversation... so warriors were talking about a student incident last year and... about the three who never ca back."
"You know about that?" he asked slowly, studying .
I nodded. "I heard about the missing warriors when I was at the headquarters. As for the rest, I just happened to be nearby at the diner where so warriors were talking about it. Though they didn’t say much, the missing student part stuck with ."
I noticed him hesitating for a mont before he finally spoke, "That wasn’t just a rumor."
"You are saying...?"
"They were found," he said, voice low. "All three of them. And before you ask... yes, they were Soul Dead."
I felt my blood run cold.
"Where?"
"Back mountains of the Academy," he answered, and my confusion deepened.
"But - no. I rember clearly. The warriors at the diner said they were patrolling the northern border, far from the Academy-."
"That’s what we let people believe," he interrupted softly.
I stared at him, trying to put together what I had missed. "Why would you-?"
"Because the real location could have put the Academy’s safety and reputation in jeopardy," he said, not harshly, but with a finality that left no room for argunt. "Too many people had already heard about their disappearance. We had to redirect the narrative before anyone started asking the wrong questions."
I watched him. And for the first ti tonight, I felt sothing sharper than fear stir in .
Anger.
"I get that you are trying to protect the Academy," I said, my voice trembling slightly, "but what you are doing could be putting more people in danger. Especially the students."
He blinked at the steel in my voice.
I pressed on, "Every day, we walk these grounds thinking the worst thing we might run into is a potion gone wrong or a boring lecture. We are not trained to defend against sothing like this. Not even the Alpha heirs. And you are hiding such a big secret. You can’t fight a threat you can’t even see."
He didn’t respond imdiately. But I noticed his jaw tightening.
Then, out of nowhere, he reached out and took hold of my hands, causing to freeze.
His grip wasn’t rough, but it was... desperate. His fingers were trembling slightly, and when I looked into his eyes, the wall of control I always saw in him had cracked. Behind the usual calm and command was sothing raw. Vulnerable.
"Eva," he said softly, not calling by my full na like usual. "I know what it looks like. But you have to believe - I am trying. I have been doing everything I can to uncover what’s happening. This thing... it hides in plain sight. Leaves no trace. No scent. No magic residue. Every lead we have found, it vanishes into smoke."
"But you can’t do it alone," I whispered.
"I know," he said, squeezing my hands. "But if I pull in too many people, it gets harder to control. More exposure ans more panic. And if whoever is behind this gets wind that we are closing in... they’ll disappear again. Just like last ti."
His voice cracked at the end, making the truth of his helplessness to bleed through.
I stared at him, feeling torn between sympathy and frustration.
He was doing his best. That much was clear. But he was also carrying too much alone... and for too long.
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