POV: Dante
I should kill her.
The thought hits me the moment Aria Blackwell collapses after destroying the Sorting Sphere. Simple. Quick. One shadow blade through the heart before anyone realizes what happened.
My hand moves to the knife hidden in my sleeve.
Then she looks up.
Her eyes are wide with fear and confusion, searching the crowd like a lost child. She has no idea what she just did. No clue that half the people in this hall want her dead and the other half want to use her.
My hand stops.
Focus, Ashford. This is what you were trained for.
I was raised by the Shadow Syndicate—an organization that doesn't officially exist. We handle problems that powerful people want erased. Six months ago, they gave me one mission: infiltrate Elysian Academy and wait.
"If the Eclipse bloodline ever resurfaces," my handler told me, "eliminate it immediately. That power cannot be allowed to exist."
I've been at this academy for two years, waiting for orders that never came. Because the Eclipse line was extinct. Dead. Gone.
Except she's standing right there, terrified and trembling, while Headmistress Voss assigns her to House Forgotten like that will somehow protect her.
"Did you see that?" the girl next to me whispers. "All five colors. My grandmother told me stories about Eclipse magic, but I thought they were just legends."
"They were supposed to be," her friend responds nervously.
The whispers spread through the hall like wildfire. Eclipse. Extinct. Impossible. Dangerous.
Aria hears them. I watch her shoulders hunch, trying to make herself smaller. She's used to being invisible, I realize. Used to hiding.
That won't work here. Not after what everyone just witnessed.
Voss ushers her toward the exit, and that purple-haired tornado—Ivy Chen—latches onto her arm, chattering about dorm assignments and class schedules like the entire magical world didn't just shift on its axis.
I should follow. Complete the mission. It would take thirty seconds. Maybe less.
Instead, I lean back in my chair and force my trademark smirk onto my face. The girl sitting next to me immediately leans closer.
"That was insane, right?" she asks, playing with her hair. "Do you think she's actually Eclipse, or could it be a trick?"
"Who knows?" I say lightly, flashing her my most charming smile. "Maybe she's just really, really unlucky."
She giggles. Perfect. Let everyone think I don't care, that I'm just the academy's playboy rogue who's only interested in flirting and causing harmless trouble.
Nobody needs to know I'm counting exits and calculating attack patterns in my head.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I already know what it says.
I wait until the ceremony ends and students start filing out before checking. Sure enough:
URGENT: Confirm target identity. Eclipse heir detected at your location. Awaiting kill order authorization.
My finger hovers over the reply button.
Four words. That's all I need to type: Target confirmed. Will eliminate.
Then I collect my payment, complete my mission, and prove I'm the Syndicate's best operative. Everything I've worked for since I was eight years old and they found me starving in an alley.
They gave me a purpose. A family. A reason to exist.
And all they ask in return is absolute loyalty.
I look up. Across the hall, Caspian Nightshade is watching Aria's exit with an intensity that makes my instincts scream warnings. The Sovereign heir never shows that much interest in anyone.
Near the shadows, Kieran Wolfe hasn't moved, his beast eyes still tracking where Aria disappeared. The cursed warrior looks like he's physically restraining himself from following her.
And Lucian Sterling is already typing frantically on his tablet, probably cross-referencing every Eclipse bloodline record in existence.
We're all circling the same prey.
Except she's not prey. Not really.
I saw her face when the sphere exploded. She wasn't trying to show off or claim power. She was scared. Whatever magic lives inside her, she has no idea how to control it.
She's not a threat. She's a disaster waiting to happen.
And the Syndicate wants me to kill her for crimes she doesn't even know she's committing.
My phone vibrates again. Another message: Awaiting confirmation.
I stare at the screen.
Twelve years. That's how long I've been with the Syndicate. Twelve years of following orders without question, becoming their perfect weapon, earning their trust.
Twelve years of never hesitating.
Until now.
I delete the message.
Then I delete the entire conversation thread. Clear the cache. Erase any trace of their contact from my phone.
It buys me maybe twenty-four hours before they get suspicious.
"You good, man?" Marcus, another Shadow House student, drops into the seat next to me. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Just thinking," I say, sliding my phone away. "That new girl's going to cause chaos."
"No kidding. Did you feel the power surge? My magic went haywire for a solid minute." He shakes his head. "House Forgotten, though. Voss is smart. Can't play House politics if you're not officially in any House."
"Except everyone saw what happened," I point out. "Forgotten or not, she just painted a target on her back."
Marcus laughs. "True. Give it a week—someone will try to recruit her or remove her. That's just how this place works."
A week. She might not survive a week.
"I'm taking bets," Marcus continues. "How long before someone makes a move on her? My money's on Caspian. He looked ready to claim her right there in the hall."
"Caspian claims everything," I say casually. "Doesn't mean he gets to keep it."
Marcus grins. "You interested? I thought you only chased girls who chase you back."
"Just making observations." I stand, stretching like I don't have a care in the world. "Anyway, I've got better things to do than gossip about first-years."
"Sure you do." Marcus doesn't believe me, but he doesn't push.
I head for the exit, taking the long route through the shadows—the path that conveniently passes the House Forgotten dormitory.
I tell myself I'm just gathering intel. Understanding the terrain. Making smart tactical decisions.
I'm definitely not protecting her.
Except when I see two upperclassmen lurking near the Forgotten entrance, whispering about "Eclipse power" and "easy target," I find myself stepping out of the shadows directly in their path.
"Lost, gentlemen?" I ask pleasantly.
They recognize me immediately. Everyone knows Dante Ashford—Shadow House's most dangerous student, wrapped in a smile that promises trouble.
"Just walking," one stammers.
"Walk somewhere else," I suggest, still smiling. "This hallway's occupied."
They leave quickly.
I lean against the wall, hidden in shadow, watching the Forgotten dormitory entrance.
My phone vibrates. A new message from a different number:
You have 24 hours to confirm target status or we send someone else. Choose wisely.
I stare at the words, then at the dormitory door where a scared girl with impossible power is probably trying to figure out what just happened to her life.
Twenty-four hours to decide: follow orders and stay loyal to the only family I've ever known.
Or commit treason to protect a girl I don't even know.
The door opens. Aria steps out with Ivy, heading toward the dining hall. She's changed into academy uniform that doesn't quite fit. Her hair's still messy. She looks exhausted.
She also looks directly at where I'm hiding, like she knows someone's watching.
Our eyes meet for half a second.
Then she's gone, disappearing around the corner with Ivy's endless chatter following her.
I pull out my phone and type a response:
Target unconfirmed. Require more time for verification.
It's a lie. I know exactly who she is.
But for the first time in twelve years, I'm not following orders.
And I have absolutely no idea why.