Chapter : 1959
He tightened his grip on Airin’s shoulder. "She needs the infirmary. And I need to file a full report. But be warned, Headmaster. This wasn't a random attack. They knew who she was. They knew about her power. We have a leak."
Valerius’s face hardened. "Go. Take care of her. I will lock down the campus. No one leaves until we find out how a cultist got through our wards."
Lloyd nodded. He turned and guided Airin toward the exit.
As they walked past the line of stunned guards, Airin kept her head high. She noticed that the other students gathering outside the caution tape were staring at her. Usually, she would have shrunk away. She would have hidden her face. She hated being the center of attention.
But today, she didn't hide. She felt the warmth of Lloyd’s hand on her shoulder, and she felt the lingering heat of the sun in her own chest. She had faced a monster that could stop ti, and she had won. She wasn't just a victim of a kidnapping attempt. She was a survivor.
They stepped out into the cool evening air. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple. It was beautiful.
"You okay?" Lloyd asked quietly, leaning down so only she could hear.
"I think so," Airin said. She looked at her bloody hands. "Lloyd?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to go back to being just a student," she said. "I don't want to sit in a classroom and pretend I didn't just lt a man with sunlight."
Lloyd stopped walking. They were on a quiet path leading to the infirmary, shielded by tall hedges. He turned to face her.
"You won't have to," he promised. "You crossed a line today, Airin. You stepped into the real world. The world where we fight."
He looked at her with an intensity that made her heart race.
"You aren't a burden to ," Lloyd said. "For a long ti... ever since I found you... I thought my job was to protect you. I thought I had to keep you in a safe little box so you wouldn't get hurt again. I thought you were fragile."
He gently took her injured hand in his.
"But you aren't fragile," he said. "You're dangerous. You’re smart. You possess a power that even I don't fully understand yet."
Airin felt a lump in her throat. "Is that a good thing?"
"It's the best thing," Lloyd said. A small, genuine smile touched his lips. "It ans I don't have to worry about you waiting at ho while I go to war. It ans you can stand next to ."
He squeezed her hand.
"Anastasia was brilliant," Lloyd said. "She was an engineer who could fix anything. But she never had magic. She never had a Solar Core. You... Airin... you have her mind, but you have power she could only dream of. You are the upgrade."
Airin laughed, a wet, teary sound. "Did you just call an upgrade?"
"In the most romantic way possible," Lloyd said, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
They stood there for a mont, just breathing in the cool air. The fear of the battle was gone, replaced by a solid, heavy feeling of connection. They weren't just two people linked by a past life anymore. They were partners in this one.
"Co on," Lloyd said, pulling her gently. "Let's get those hands bandaged. And then I’m going to teach you how to do that laser trick again. But this ti, let's use targets that don't shoot back."
"Deal," Airin said.
As they walked toward the infirmary lights, Airin realized sothing. The heavy, confusing fog that had clouded her mind for weeks was gone. The mories of Anastasia and the life of Airin weren't fighting anymore. They had rged. She used the math from her past to control the magic of her present. She was whole.
And walking beside the man who had crossed ti and space to find her, she finally felt ready for whatever war was coming next.
________________________________________
The infirmary at the Royal Academy was quiet and slled of rubbing alcohol and clean linen. It was a stark contrast to the destruction of the greenhouse. Lloyd sat on a stool next to the bed where Airin was sitting. A senior healer was finishing wrapping white bandages around Airin's hands.
Chapter : 1960
"The cuts are deep, but clean," the healer said, tying off the knot. "The burn on your chest is superficial. It looks like a bad sunburn. Apply this salve twice a day, and it won't even scar."
"Thank you," Airin said politely.
The healer nodded to Lloyd, gathered her supplies, and left the room, closing the heavy wooden door behind her.
Finally, they were alone.
Lloyd let out a long sigh and slumped slightly on the stool. The perfect posture of the Lord Ferrum vanished, replaced by the tired slump of a man who had lived through too many battles. He rubbed his face with his hands.
"I hate hospitals," he muttered. "They always sll the sa. Even in a magical world, they sll like anxiety."
Airin smiled softly. "It's not so bad. It’s warm."
She looked at her bandaged hands. They looked clumsy and thick like this. She flexed her fingers, testing the movent.
"Lloyd," she said.
He dropped his hands and looked at her. "Yeah?"
"Back there," she started, choosing her words carefully. "When the Collector had ... I rembered sothing. From the dream. From the old life."
Lloyd went still. He waited, giving her space to speak.
"I rembered a night," Airin said, her eyes distant. "We were in a garage. It was raining. You were trying to fix a generator, and you were so frustrated you threw a wrench across the room."
Lloyd winced. "That sounds like ."
"I picked it up," Airin continued. "And I told you that being angry doesn't fix the circuit. I told you to look at the problem backward. To start from the solution and work your way to the problem."
She looked at him. "That's what I did today. I looked at the problem—the shield—and I worked backward. I realized I didn't need to punch through it. I needed to go around it."
Lloyd nodded slowly. "Reverse engineering."
"Yes," Airin said. "But it wasn't just the mory of the math. It was the feeling. I rembered... trusting you. I rembered that even when you were angry, or scared, or tired... you were competent. I knew if I set up the shot, you would take it."
She leaned forward. "That trust... it’s not just a mory anymore, Lloyd. It’s real. It’s mine. I trust you. Not because of who you were, but because of who you are right now."
Lloyd looked at her, his expression softening into sothing profound and sad.
"I haven't been honest with you," he admitted quietly. "Not completely."
Airin tilted her head. "About what?"
"About why I keep pushing people away," Lloyd said. He looked at his own hands. "In my head... I’m still the General. I’m still the man who sends people to die. When I saw you at the market, when I realized who you were... my first instinct wasn't joy. It was terror."
He looked up at her, his eyes dark. "I thought, 'Great. Now I have soone else to lose.' I thought that if I got close to you, I would just be painting a target on your back. I thought the best way to protect you was to keep you distant. To let you be a normal student."
"That didn't work very well," Airin pointed out dryly. "The target found anyway."
"Exactly," Lloyd said bitter. "That’s the lesson. You can't hide from this war. The Fire Fly Corporation, the Seventh Circle... they don't care if you're involved or not. They will burn the whole field just to kill one weed."
He stood up and paced the small room.
"Today proved that I can't protect you by hiding you," Lloyd said. "I can only protect you by arming you."
He stopped pacing and looked at her.
"You have a Solar Core," he said. "That’s rare. Extrely rare. It ans your body naturally produces energy that mimics the sun. It’s the perfect counter to the darkness of the Abyss. That’s why they want you. You are a natural weapon against them."
"A weapon," Airin repeated. She tested the word. It sounded heavy.
"Yes," Lloyd said. "But a weapon is only dangerous if it doesn't know how to aim itself. Today, you aid. Today, you fought."
He walked back to the bed and sat down again.
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