Cassian POV
The first thing I notice is how she's standing.
Sarafina always held herself with quiet confidence when she taught, shoulders relaxed, voice warm, posture unbothered by even the most chaotic teenage rebellion. Today, she's rigid. Her hand trembles slightly when she gathers her papers. Her eyes keep flicking toward the windows as if the shadows are spelling her name. She doesn't see me at first.
Good. It gives me time to study her, and to make sense of the fear sitting low in my stomach. Fear I haven't felt in years. When she turns, it hits me like a punch.
Something is wrong with her aura.
It's faint, barely a shimmer, but the seal around her soul feels thinner. Like a ribbon stretched too far, one thread already snapped.
Her eyes meet mine, and for a moment she forgets to breathe.
"Sarafina." My voice is steadier than I feel. "I came to walk you home."
She hesitates. That alone tells me everything. She never hesitates around me.
"Cassian.. did you have you ever felt like the world is repeating itself?" Her voice is soft, uncertain, as if she's afraid the question is ridiculous.
My pulse stutters.
She shouldn't be feeling echoes. Not yet. I let a calm smile shape my lips. "Long day, maybe. Students can warp anyone's sense of reality."
A small laugh escapes her, but it doesn't reach her eyes. She knows I'm lying. And I know her seal has cracked more than I expected. "Come on," I say gently, gesturing toward the hallway. "You shouldn't walk alone tonight."
She blinks, surprised. "Is something happening in the city?"
Yes. Hunters. Movement. Whispers of a prophecy echoing after twenty-five years of silence. The kind of trouble that gets people like her killed.
"No," I lie smoothly. "Just being protective."
She rolls her eyes lightly, but the tension in her shoulders doesn't ease. She slips her bag over her arm and walks beside me. Her steps are quick, restless. The fluorescent lights overhead flicker, and she flinches.
I pretend not to notice. But she notices that I pretend.
It's a dance we've been doing since we were children, her reading between my silences, me pretending those silences weren't hiding entire wars.
When we step outside, the city air wraps around us, thick with neon and humming power. Valeries is loud tonight, too loud. Cars rush past, lights smear in the damp air, and crowds move without awareness of what hunts between them.
Sarafina pauses on the sidewalk, staring upward.
"Does the sky look different to you?" she whispers.
I look up too. The sky is polluted with city light, stained magenta by neon signs. Nothing unusual. But the hair on my arms rises.
She's sensing the veil.
And she's not supposed to.
I keep my tone light. "You're exhausted. Let me get you home. You'll feel better after some rest."
She nods, though confusion shadows her face. We walk side by side, her pace quick, mine deliberately slow to match her without crowding her. It used to be effortless, my presence always calmed her. Now she's scared, glancing over her shoulder every few minutes.
Halfway down the block, she stops abruptly.
"Don't turn around," she whispers. Her voice cracks. " I think someone is following us."
She's right.
I felt him the moment we stepped out of the school, heartbeat too steady, breath too controlled, shoes too soft on concrete. A hunter.
Not after her yet, just tracking. Trying to confirm what they suspect.
I school my expression into mild curiosity. "What makes you say that?"
"I don't know," she murmurs. "I just kinda feel it."
That's the part that terrifies me.
The seal isn't supposed to let her feel anything supernatural.
"Stay beside me," I say quietly. She swallows and nods.
The hunter follows at a distance, never stepping close enough to be obvious. I lead Sarafina down a busier street, then across a quieter one. The hunter matches every turn.
When we reach her apartment building, she exhales in relief.
"I'm sorry," she says, a little embarrassed. "I think I'm being paranoid."
"You're not." I unlock the door and hold it open. "But you're safe now."
She steps inside, shoes clicking softly on the tiled floor. The familiar scent of her apartment, lavender and a hint of citrus detergent, wraps around me. It's warm. Human. Safe. And tonight, she looks anything but that.
She sets her bag down and presses her palms against the kitchen counter, shoulders tense.
"Cassian, something happened to me last night." Her voice trembles. "I don't remember it fully. Just flashes. Like… someone reaching for me. And cold. And this…this burning inside my veins…."
I move quickly, gently taking her wrists in my hands. Her pulse races beneath my fingertips. Too fast.
"Look at me," I say softly. Her eyes lift. Haunted.
"You're okay. You're here. You're alive. Whatever you think happened, I believe it was a nightmare."
I hate lying to her. But if she remembers too much too soon, the seal will snap like brittle glass.
She pulls away slowly, uncertain. "Maybe."
"I'll make tea," I offer, giving her a moment to breathe.
But she shakes her head. "Stay for a bit? Just until the feeling passes."
Warmth floods my chest. "Of course."
She curls onto the couch, hugging a pillow, staring at the muted glow of the streetlights bleeding through her blinds. I sit a few feet away close, but not too close.
She leans her head against the cushion and murmurs, "You always show up at the right time."
My throat tightens. "I know."
Her eyes drift shut. She's exhausted.
Within minutes, her breathing softens into sleep. I stay perfectly still until I'm certain she's fully under.
Then I move.
Quietly. Calmly.
I slip out of her apartment and close the door without a sound. The hallway is empty.
The street outside is quiet.
The hunter is not hard to find. He's hiding in the alley across from her building, pretending he's checking his phone.
I walk up behind him.
"You shouldn't have followed her."
He stiffens, reaching for the silver knife inside his jacket. Too slow.
My hand covers his mouth; my other hand slams him back into the wall. His eyes widen recognition, fear, disbelief.
"You weren't supposed to sense her yet," he rasps when I ease my hand just enough for him to speak. "The report said the seal was intact…."
He doesn't finish.
I snap his neck in one clean motion.
He collapses soundlessly.
I drag the body deeper into the alley, cover it with crates, and wipe my hands on his jacket. No blood. No traces.
When I turn back toward Sarafina's apartment, a cold dread settles in my stomach. The hunters are moving early.
And the crack in her seal is worse than I feared. I return upstairs and slip back inside. She hasn't moved from the couch.
Her lashes flutter as she wakes slightly. "Cassian?"
"Right here," I murmur.
She smiles sleepily and curls deeper into the cushions.
I watch her for a long moment.
My duty is to protect her.
My curse is wanting her.
My hell is knowing I'm losing her to destiny, to the prophecy, to the hybrid watching from the shadows.
But tonight, she is safe.
And no one will touch her while I still draw breath.