The hallway of the Command Tier was lined with white stone, its surface polished so deeply it looked like frozen water. Anna walked half a step behind Sofia, her eyes fixed on the silver collar that glinted against the charcoal silk of the girl's tunic.
"The Commander will be finished with the logistical briefing in an hour, Miss," Anna whispered, her voice hushed and urgent. "She wants you resting in the quarters until then. We shouldn't linger."
The InterruptionAs they rounded the corner toward the private wing, a young messenger—a boy no older than sixteen with a shock of messy brown hair—skidded to a halt. He was new to the Tier, his eyes widening as they landed on the girl in the fine silk. To him, she wasn't a "Saint" or a weapon; she was simply the most beautiful thing he had seen in this grey mountain.
"Wait!" the boy called out, his voice cracking with adolescent nerves. He stepped into their path, blocking the way. "I haven't seen you around. Are you... are you one of the new clerks?"
Sofia stopped, her fingers twisting the hem of her charcoal sleeve. She looked up at him, her "Influence" instinctively softening into a shy, gentle hum. "I... I'm the Commander's assistant," she murmured, her cheeks flushing a soft pink.
The boy leaned in a little closer, emboldened by her quiet voice. "An assistant? You look more like a princess. I'm Toby. I run the dispatches for the third sector." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at his boots before meeting her eyes again. "I was wondering... are you single? I mean, do you have someone waiting for you back home? Or a family?"
Sofia blinked, her expression turning touchingly naive. She hadn't been asked a normal question in what felt like a lifetime. "I have my sister, Jess," she answered softly, a small, shy smile touching her lips at the thought of her home. "But there's no one else. We lived alone on our farm before the soldiers came."
The Shadow FallsThe air in the hallway suddenly dropped ten degrees. The heavy thud of combat boots echoed against the stone, rhythmic and predatory. Talisa stepped from a side corridor, her silhouette tall and jagged. Her eyes weren't on the boy's satchel; they were locked on the blush on Sofia's cheeks and the way she was smiling at a stranger.
"Anna," Talisa's voice was a low, vibrating growl that made the young maid jump.
"Yes, Commander?"
"Take the girl to the bedroom. Lock the door from the inside. Do not let her out until I come for her."
Anna didn't hesitate. She grabbed Sofia's arm, her face pale. "Come, Miss. Quickly."
Sofia looked back over her shoulder, her sapphire eyes filled with a sudden, sharp dread. She saw the way Talisa was staring at Toby—not with the coldness of a general, but with the white-hot, possessive jealousy of a predator protecting its kill.
The Lesson in the HallwayThe heavy door to the quarters slammed shut, leaving Sofia and Anna in the silence of the bedroom. But in the hallway, the silence was different. It was the silence before a storm.
"Commander, I—I was just asking for directions," Toby stammered, backing away until his spine hit the cold stone wall. "I didn't mean anything by it."
Talisa didn't speak. She moved with a blurred, lethal efficiency. Her fist connected with the boy's jaw, a sickening crackechoing through the corridor. He hit the floor, his messenger bag spilling papers across the white stone.
Talisa didn't stop. She grabbed the boy by his collar, hauling him up and slamming him back against the wall. She struck him again—a calculated, brutal blow to the stomach that left him gasping for air.
"You don't look at her," Talisa hissed, her face inches from his, her scarred cheek twitching with rage. "You don't ask her about her life. You don't even breathe the same air unless I command it."
She dropped him like a sack of unwanted grain. Toby curled into a ball on the floor, coughing and clutching his ribs. Talisa stood over him, her shadow swallowing his broken form.
"Listen to me, boy," Talisa whispered, her voice carrying a terrifying, absolute weight. "Sofia is mine. She isn't a girl for you to court. She isn't a face for you to admire. She is my shadow and my property. If I see you—or anyone else—near her again, I won't just break your bones. I'll make sure there isn't enough of you left to bury."
Talisa adjusted her gloves, her breathing perfectly even. She stepped over the boy's shaking body and walked toward her bedroom door, her mind already shifting back to the girl waiting inside.