Seraphina was next. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. She stood just behind Lilith, dressed in a sleek business wrap and low heels, her eyes golden and unreadable.
But then, as Ethan looked at her, she stepped forward and gave a quiet sigh.
"Don’t ever do that again," she said lightly.
And then she touched his shoulder—one press, firm and grounded—before stepping back.
Liliana didn’t say anything at all. She just walked past the others, grabbed Ethan by the sleeve, and gave it a small tug, like checking if he was really solid. Still there. Still breathing.
When he looked at her, she gave a small nod and rolled her eyes.
Then she punched his arm, gently.
"You’re buying the next round," she muttered.
From the side, Isabella let out a low whistle. Her violet hair frad her face loosely today, and she was perched on the edge of the entry table, swinging one leg.
"Took your sweet ti, didn’t you, little brother?" she grinned.
Then, without waiting, she slid off the table and threw both arms around his neck.
"Try sothing that crazy again," she whispered near his ear, "and I’ll make sure to lock you up inside my room and not let you out."
But she was smiling.
Really smiling.
For a while, no one moved.
They didn’t crowd him. Didn’t push. Just let the mont settle.
A return wasn’t always about noise. Sotis, it was about breath.
Ethan looked around the entrance hall.
The light was warm.
The air slled like citrus peel and polished wood.
And for the first ti in days, the weight in his chest didn’t feel like it had to sit there alone.
Lilith stepped back slightly, her hand brushing along Ethan’s arm.
"We have tea ready," she said. "Or the study, if you’d rather sit."
Ethan gave a small nod.
They understood.
He didn’t want to talk about the details yet. Maybe not even tonight.
But he was ho.
And that was enough.
As they turned toward the hallway, the four won fell in step beside him, flanking, not surrounding. Calm. Natural.
Not because he needed guarding.
But they wanted to walk with him.
The mansion was quiet.
But not cold.
Not anymore.
Just still.
And that stillness felt safe.
They didn’t speak much on the way to the study. Just soft footsteps across smooth floors and the faint rustle of fabric as Seraphina flicked open a side screen built into her pad. Her fingers moved fast. She wasn’t wasting ti.
Liliana broke off near the side hallway, only to return a minute later with a thick folded blanket and an old scarf Ethan used to wear during winter drills. She tossed both onto the couch in the corner without a word, then took her usual spot by the door.
Isabella flopped into the window seat, her legs tucked up as she leaned back and stared through the mist-cloaked glass outside.
Her smile had faded, but the warmth was still evident in her posture, relaxed, as if she finally didn’t have to keep pretending everything was fine.
Lilith waited until Ethan sat down. Not at the desk. Not on the main couch. He took the small, firm-backed chair closest to the wall.
A habit. A quiet one. The sa spot he always chose when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk or listen.
The tea ca in with one of the staff—silent, swift, and bowed out just as fast. No ceremony. No fuss.
Steam curled in the quiet air.
Lilith didn’t touch hers. Neither did the others. Not yet.
The silence lingered just a little longer, stretching across the room, but not oppressively so. Just... waiting.
Then Lilith spoke.
Her voice wasn’t sharp. But it was direct.
"What happened in the Forbidden Zone?"
Ethan didn’t answer right away. He didn’t avoid it either. Just let the question settle, then tilted his head slightly.
"It started normally," he said. "Us getting sent to the locations we chose, surviving and fighting beasts."
Liliana shifted slightly by the door, crossing one ankle behind the other.
"Then?"
"There was a mont," Ethan said, voice low. "Right before everything went wrong. The boundary markers started flickering; then we lost signal from one of the inner beacons. Wind changed. The trees moved... but not like normal. Evelyn noticed it first."
Seraphina didn’t look up. She just tapped her datapad, eyes scanning fast, before swiping sothing toward the far wall.
A faint projection ford—topographic outlines of the last recorded scan. Glitches dotted the map like static.
"Was it expected?" she asked quietly.
"No."
Lilith’s gaze stayed steady. "How bad did it get?"
Ethan exhaled through his nose, slowly.
"They didn’t just trip the zone. Sothing triggered a riot. Felt like they were trying to anchor a core or maybe bait sothing out. I don’t think they expected it to hit that fast."
Liliana’s brow furrowed faintly. "A beast tide?"
"Felt like it. Just wrong. No pattern. Not natural."
"Casualties?" Isabella asked. Her tone didn’t have sharp edges, but it wasn’t soft either.
"There were injuries. Most students made it through. But not all."
His hand shifted on the armrest. Not a full movent, just a small flex in the knuckles.
"We tried to save as many as we could. At least long enough for extraction to kick in."
There was a short silence.
Seraphina finally looked up. Her voice dropped just a bit.
"You could’ve pulled back."
"I know."
She didn’t push.
Lilith quieted down for a mont as she was lost in thought.
But her posture changed. Not visibly. Just sothing in her breathing. A soft shift.
Then, finally, she nodded.
"We felt a disturbance near the root lines," Seraphina added, adjusting the display again.
"Like sothing moved under the zone. Could’ve been a delayed effect... but it read strange. Like it wasn’t part of the forest."
Liliana’s tone grew cooler. "Did anyone say who was behind it?"
"Yes, the Silent Crescent has already started dealing with them, so we don’t need to worry," Lilith said as she nodded.
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