St. Swithin's Academy - The Command Room
The room had been completely redecorated. The walls were painted a cold, sterile white. It was less an office and more a minimalist prison cell, designed to reflect the new, severe authority of its occupant.
Emily sat at the desk. She wore a tailored black suit, her hair pulled back sharply. She was the picture of cold, frightening authority. She didn't look like a student.
Standing stiffly in front of the desk were Harry, Hazel, and Margot. They were dressed in their uniforms, but they looked like prisoners of war. They were covered in exhaustion and fear.
Behind Emily, near the door, stood Sasha, armed with a hidden pistol, her face a mask of stone.
"Father said I needed to control the Pack," Emily said, her voice flat, emotionless "I disagreed. I don't need to control you. I need to dissolve you." Harry flinched. "Emily, we don't know anything about a Pack. We just..." "Stop lying," Emily cut him off. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "The radios, the vent taps, the logistics—you were his hands. You fought his war. And now, you work for me."
"We can't," Margot whispered, tears stinging her eyes. "We can't work for the person who..."
"Who is a murdered?" Emily finished for her, without flinching. "Yes. I know. It should be painful. Good. Let the pain remind you that loyalty to a monster earns you a watery grave. It will make you efficient."
She pushed a sheet of paper across the desk. It was a list of directives.
"Harry, you will repair the security sensors in the lower levels. Every camera will now feed to my private console. Hazel, you will analyze the weaknesses in the Den's defense records—the ones Eiden left behind. Margot, you will resume your duties. I want to know every conversation Sebastian has; every move Emma makes."
Hazel spoke, her voice shaking but retaining its analytical edge. "Eiden wouldn't want us to help you."
"Eiden is dead," Emily said simply. "And he was wrong. He was blind. He thought he was a hero, but he was just a tool sent by a clan of murderers. I am giving you a choice, Hazel. Help me defend this school, or join your hero in the North Sea."
The silence was heavy. Harry nodded miserably. Margot swallowed hard.
Just as the door was about to close on the three students, Emma slammed into the room.
She wasn't sneaky this time. She ran. She had seen Harry, Hazel, and Margot being marched upstairs by the guards.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Emma screamed.
She ran straight past Sasha knocking her down, Sasha didn't even have time to draw her gun. Emma grabbed Emily by the shoulders, wrenching her up from the desk.
"You soulless bitch!" Emma roared, tears of grief and rage pouring down her face. "You killed him! You killed Eiden and now you think you can turn his family into your slaves?"
Emily was stunned by the raw, physical attack. She stumbled back against the desk. Her ice-mask shattered, replaced by pure, terrifying fury.
"You touch me again," Emily hissed, pushing Emma back, "and I will break every bone in your body."
"You want to fight?" Emma screamed, her hands clenching into fists. "You killed the only person who cared about you! You murdered him to protect your father's gold! I'll kill you! Right here! Right now!"
"I avenged my mother!" Emily spat, her voice rising to a dangerous pitch. "He was a Wolf! He was here to destroy my family!"
"He was five years old when he lost his father! He was a child who was scared of the dark! And you shot him in the back to send him into darkness!" Emma's scream was so loud it was physically painful. "You are the monster! You are the traitor to the truth!"
The scene was pure chaos. Margot and Harry looked terrified. Sasha finally recovered and grabbed Emma's arms, twisting them behind her back.
"Let go of me!" Emma screamed at Sasha.
The door opened. Linda walked in, holding a small file of papers. She stopped dead, seeing the melee—Emma struggling, Emily trembling with fury, and Sasha holding Emma in a military lock.
"What in God's name...?" Linda whispered.
"Linda!" Emily snapped, pointing a shaking finger at Emma. "Get her out! Take her to the dormitories and lock her in! Now!"
Linda dropped her files. She looked at Emma, whose face was distorted by grief. She looked at Emily, whose eyes were filled with murder.
"No," Linda said, her voice small. "I won't. I won't be your jailer, Emily. This is insane. Let her go."
Emily walked toward Linda, her anger turning cold. She stopped directly in front of her cousin.
"You think this is a choice, Linda?" Emily whispered, her voice dropping to a low, lethal command. "You think you still have an opinion in this house? You think you still have freedom?"
Emily grabbed Linda's chin, forcing her to look up. "I can make you a prisoner here. You think I won't do it? You should know very well that I have no conscience left."
Emily's control was absolute. Linda stared at her, the memory of the vault and the cold gun barrel shattering her last bit of defiance.
Linda collapsed internally. "Fine. Fine," she choked out.
Emily stepped back. "Sasha, release her. Linda, escort the girl out. And I want to see you back here in ten minutes, Linda. We have a very important conversation about your future."
Linda, defeated and terrified, grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her, gently but firmly, toward the door.
"Don't come back," Linda whispered to Emma. "Don't come back or she will kill you."
The room was silent again. Emily stood alone with her guards and her terrified Pack. She was shaking slightly, but she had won. She had established her rule.
Linda shoved Emma onto a bed in the empty dorm. She locked the door. "You idiot!" Linda hissed, tears of fear blurring her vision. "She would have killed you! She would have ruined my life! She's gone, Emma! She's completely gone!" Emma lay on the bed, her breathing slowly calming. Her eyes were focused now, sharp. "No," Emma said, sitting up. She took Linda's trembling hands. "She's not gone. She's broken. She's grieving the wrong person. She's killing the only true thing she had." Emma looked at Linda. "Has she taken full control of the school?" "Yes!" Linda cried. "It's collapsing! The school is collapsing!" "Good," Emma said, a cold, hard glint in her eye. "Then Emily needs you. That means you are an asset, Linda. You're our eyes now." "No! I'm not a spy! I'm going to run!" "You can run," Emma said, pulling Linda close. "But you can't let Emily win. Eiden was killed because of her. A man who saved you. Now, go back to her office. Be scared. Be the good cousin. And find out what she's planning." Emma handed Linda her small, black knitting needle. "This is your radio. If you need me, drop it in the flower pot outside the window. I'll hear the chime." Linda stared at the needle, then at Emma's fierce, determined face. She looked at the door. She looked back at Emma. She took the needle. "I hate you both," Linda whispered, her voice full of fear and a grudging respect. She walked out, the newest, most terrified spy in the Wolf Pack.
Later that evening, Maverick Cronus stood in the doorway of the Command Room. He hadn't been invited, but the guards knew better than to stop him.
He watched his sister. Emily was signing documents, her movements sharp and robotic. She looked like a porcelain doll that had been broken and glued back together with jagged edges.
"You're working them too hard," Maverick said quietly. "The students. The staff. They're terrified of you."
Emily didn't look up. "Fear is efficient, Maverick. Affection is sloppy."
"Is that what Father told you?"
"It's what I learned," she said, finally raising her eyes. They were hollow. "On the boat. When I had to choose between my feelings and my family."
Maverick flinched. He knew the truth about that night. He knew Akuma had paid Kane to stage the attack. He knew Emily's "choice" was based on a lie he was too cowardly to expose.
"Em," he started, taking a step forward. "You don't have to be this. You don't have to be him."
"I am a Cronus," she said, her voice devoid of warmth. "I am protecting what is ours. Someone has to. You were too busy playing soldier to see the wolves at the door."
"The wolves aren't the only monsters," Maverick whispered.
"No," Emily agreed, misinterpreting him completely. "I am the monster now. And monsters don't get hurt."
She looked back at her papers. "Dismissed, Lieutenant."
Maverick stood there for a moment, looking at the stranger wearing his sister's face. He touched the pistol at his hip, the weight of his secret crushing him.
He turned and left, leaving the Cold Princess to her kingdom of ice.
After Maverick left, the silence in the office became unbearable. It pressed against Emily's skull. She couldn't breathe.
She needed to check the perimeter. That was the excuse she gave herself.
She walked out of the tower, down the silent halls, to the boys' dormitory.
She unlocked Eiden's room with her master key.
It was exactly as he had left it. The bed was made. The books were stacked. It smelled like him—pine soap and old paper.
She walked in, her heart hammering a traitorous rhythm against her ribs.
She touched the desk. She touched the pillow.
She opened the drawer. Inside, hidden beneath a textbook, was a small, leather-bound notebook. A Wolf's diary.
She knew she shouldn't open it. It was the enemy's intel.
She opened it.
The handwriting was rough, hurried.
She flipped to the beginning. To the day he arrived.
Entry: Day 3. The Courtyard.
Target: Emily Cronus. She watched me fight the bullies. She acts like a queen, cold and untouchable. She called me a dog. But her hands were shaking when she walked away. She thinks she's scary. She's just lonely. I think she's the saddest thing in this fortress.
Emily gasped, her finger tracing the words. He had seen through her mask from the very first day.
She turned the page.
Entry: The Library.
I found her talking to the ceiling. She wasn't the Princess. She was just a girl wishing for a prince to take her away. She talked about a goat named Sir Reginald. I made her laugh. It was a nice sound. It suited her better than the silence. I hope Sir Reginald gets his carriage one day.
A sob broke from her throat. She remembered that night. The rain. The laughter. The feeling of being light.
She turned the pages faster, desperate now.
Entry: The Library Attack.
Target: Emily Cronus. Assessment: She is not what the file said. She stood her ground. She didn't run. She saved the other student (Linda) before herself. She has a good aim. But her eyes... she looks lonely. Like she's waiting for someone to see her.
Emily's hand trembled violently.
Entry: The Train to Bletchworth.
Mission compromised. The girls came along. Linda complains about the smell. Emily... Emily ate a meat pie. She got gravy on her chin and didn't care. She fell asleep on my shoulder. For a few hours, she wasn't a Princess. She was just a girl. I should have pushed her off. I didn't. I wanted to keep her safe.
A tear hit the page, smearing the ink on the word safe.
"You liar," she whispered, choking on a sob. "You liar."
He hadn't hated her. He hadn't been using her. He had seen her. He had loved the parts of her she tried so hard to hide.
She slammed the book shut, gasping for air, the ice around her heart cracking, threatening to shatter.
"Emily?"
She spun around. Linda was standing in the doorway, looking worried.
"What are you doing here?" Linda asked softly. "Torturing yourself?"
Emily quickly wiped her eyes, the mask slamming back into place. "I was searching for evidence. Contraband."
"You were crying," Linda said, stepping into the room.
"I don't cry," Emily snapped. "I am securing the school."
"Stop it!" Linda shouted. It was the first time she had ever raised her voice at Emily. "Stop pretending! Look at you! You're a ghost!"
"I am doing what is necessary!" Emily yelled back, throwing the diary onto the bed. "I am protecting us! Eiden was a threat! He killed my mother's memory! He had to go!"
"Is that what you have been telling yourself?" Linda screamed. "He saved both of us! Multiple times! And you killed him because your father told you so!"
"My father told me the truth!"
"Your father is a liar!" Linda stepped closer, her fear gone, replaced by anger. "I see the way he looks at you, Emily. He doesn't look at you like a daughter. He looks at you like a possession. Like that dagger in the vault."
"Shut up, Linda. You don't know anything."
"I know that you used to be kind!" Linda said, tears streaming down her face. "You were arrogant, sure. You were a Princess. But you had a heart! Now? Now you're just... cold. You're cruel. You scare me, Em."
"Good," Emily hissed. "Fear keeps you safe."
"No," Linda said, shaking her head. "Fear keeps you alone."
Linda looked at the diary on the bed, then back at her cousin.
"You were better when you were not like this," Linda whispered. "You were better when you were just a girl on a train."
Linda turned and walked out, leaving Emily standing in the center of the dead boy's room.
Emily looked at the diary. She wanted to burn it. She wanted to destroy it.
Instead, she shoved it into her pocket, next to her heart.