CHAPTER 23
KAZ
Iknow something’s wrong the second I walk into the courtyard.
It’s too quiet.
Usually, announcement mornings buzz—cadets talking, betting, pretending they don’t care when every one of them’s dying to see the updated rankings. But today, there’s this uneasy hush. The kind that smells like static and bad news.
The digital board looms above the plaza. A wash of names, ranks, designations, all scrolling in order of merit.
My eyes go straight to the top three.
Yoris. Swan. —
That’s it.
No third.
Then the line blinks.
And there it is.
1. Swan
2. Yoris
3. —
The dash burns more than any name could.
The crowd murmurs. A ripple of confusion passes through the gathered cadets. Someone whispers my name. I feel it more than I hear it. A hundred glances. A thousand silent theories.
My chest goes cold.
Then hot.
Someone must’ve pulled it.
No. No way.
I start walking before the thought’s finished forming.
Trozius’s door doesn’t survive my first knock. I slam it open so hard the frame protests.
He doesn’t even look startled. Just looks up from his terminal like he’s been expecting me.
“Lieutenant Kazimir,” he says, calm. Controlled. The kind of tone that makes you want to throw a punch.
“What the hell is this?”
He doesn’t ask what I’m talking about. He just sighs and taps a key. A datapad slides across the desk toward me.
“Your file.”
“I don’t need my?—”
But then I see it. The header. The seal.
