I woke the next morning to the sound of a bell.
Not a small, polite bell meant to gently rouse sleepy students. This one was enormous, thunderous, hanging somewhere high above the academy and being struck with merciless force. The deep, resonant clang vibrated through the stone beneath me, through my bones, and straight into my skull, dragging me out of sleep whether I wanted to wake or not.
The first thing I realized, with a strange mix of relief and disbelief, was that I hadn't died of cold.
Which, honestly, felt like a small but significant achievement after everything that had happened the day before.
Someone had covered me during the night. A heavy black cloth lay draped over my body, thick enough to shield me from the worst of the freezing temperatures. Whoever had done it... whether a silent guardian angel, a guilty observer, or someone simply acting out of pity... I silently thanked them in the quiet of my mind.
You saved my life. I won't forget that. Probably.
Still, when I tried to move, my body protested violently. Everything ached with a deep, bone-weary pain, as if I had walked for miles instead of sleeping on unforgiving stone. This wasn't just the lingering effect of the sedative anymore.
Something else was wrong. My limbs felt heavier than they should, weaker, as though my strength had been quietly drained while I slept.
That scared me more than I wanted to admit.
Even without a wolf.
Even without my vampire powers or any other supernatural gift.
I had never felt this weak before.
I forced myself to my feet, joints protesting with sharp stabs of pain, and joined the stream of students heading toward the field. Yesterday I had almost been executed in front of an audience. Today, apparently, I was expected to line up like nothing had happened, like two students hadn't died because of cursed ropes meant for me.
The same people who had locked me out the night before passed me without a single glance. No concern. No curiosity. Not even a flicker of relief that I was still breathing. They simply walked on, eyes forward, as if I were invisible.
I tried to keep up with the crowd, but my legs betrayed me.
One moment I was moving, the next my knee buckled.
I would have hit the ground hard if a gentle hand hadn't caught my arm, soft, steady, like it had never known hardship or cruelty.
I turned and saw her.
She was beautiful. Long, flowing black hair that caught the morning light like polished obsidian. Calm, kind eyes the color of warm earth. And a smile, soft, genuine, and real.
A real smile.
She was the first stranger in this academy who had ever smiled at me without mockery or hidden intent. Before I could stop myself, I found my lips curving upward in return.
"How are you?" she asked gently, her voice warm and melodic, like sunlight breaking through clouds.
I considered lying for half a second. Then decided honesty might be more entertaining in a place like this.
"I'm trying not to give up on life," I said, my voice still rough from sleep and cold.
She smiled wider, a small laugh escaping her lips.
"Thank you," I added quietly, though I still hadn't properly looked at her face. Experience had taught me something important, anyone who started off kind to me usually ended up betraying me sooner or later.
Lysera.
Ysara.
Perfect examples.
"My name is Liora," she said as we continued walking with the rest of the students.
"Nyx," I replied simply.
"The goddess of the night," she said softly, like the name itself carried sacred weight.
I finally glanced at her properly. "Your name means light," I said. "And you truly look like it."
I said it so she would know I wasn't as dumb or broken as everyone probably assumed, especially after they had locked me out like unwanted baggage the night before.
I realized too late how that might have sounded.
Imagine someone saying, "Because my name is Nyx, I must look like the night."
Ridiculous.
But instead of mocking me or correcting me, Liora simply smiled again, warm and sincere. "Really? Thank you for the compliment."
She didn't laugh at me.
She didn't make me feel small.
She didn't twist my words into something pathetic.
And somehow, that kindness made me more uneasy than all the cruelty I had faced yesterday combined.
Liora walked beside me the entire way to the field, or whatever they decided to call that wide, unforgiving expanse of open ground. She even linked her arm with mine at one point, as if we were old friends who had been separated at birth and finally reunited by fate. She was far too familiar, far too comfortable with my presence, like my company didn't bother her at all.
It almost made me want to ask if we had met before.
I wanted to ask why she hadn't helped me last night, why she hadn't said a single word when I had nowhere to sleep and no one willing to open a door. But I kept my mouth shut. Questions like that could wait. People who appeared suddenly in my life and acted kind usually came with hidden intentions.
Enemy or ally...
time would expose her.
The future always did.
We reached the field, and the noise swallowed us immediately. Hundreds of voices rose and fell around us, students milling about in their crisp uniforms, some laughing, some whispering, some already sizing each other up with competitive glares.
Before I could even step fully into the crowd or disappear among the bodies like I had planned...
"Miss Valoria."
The voice cut through everything like a blade.
I froze mid-step.
Slowly, I turned toward the source.
Ysara stood there, arms folded, with a beautiful smile, if I don't know any better I might have fallen for that.
Not again.
I looked at her with only one thought running through my mind, heavy and resigned.
Am I about to be used for another test?