Irene stepped into the holding area with her spine straight and her hands loose at her sides, refusing to reach for her bandaged neck despite the persistent burn beneath the cloth.

The space around her had settled into tense efficiency.

Class S guards flanked the perimeter with weapons drawn, temporary runes glowed faintly around the prisoners’ wrists, and support students moved through the clearing with water and supplies.

Soot still stained several uniforms.

Exhaustion lined those faces that should have looked victorious.

She scanned the area with deliberate calmness, taking in details the way her father had taught her.

The mission had achieved its objective.

Darius sat restrained against a tree with his injured leg treated enough to stop bleeding but not enough to restore mobility.

Cole knelt nearby under guard, bruised and furious, his hands bound and his attention fixed on the ground.

Two hostages secured.

Class B’s leader removed.

The operation was technically a success.

It doesn’t feel like one, though.

Ronan had stolen the node back.

He had attacked her from behind without triggering her instincts, scattered their formation with fire and smoke, and escaped with something he should never have been able to hold.

She had known him her entire life.

Lazy, emotional, desperate for recognition he refused to earn.

The brother who failed at everything except making excuses.

That Ronan would have panicked. This one had moved through chaos like it belonged to him.

She forced the thought down.

Commanders did not fixate on siblings.

Commanders assessed threats, extracted information, and maintained control.

Darius was the objective. Cole was additional leverage. Ronan was not a variable that could be dismissed, but he wasn’t here standing in front of her, was he?

The image returned anyway.

Ronan appearing through the smoke. Expression blank. Attacking Darius instead of saving him.

Grabbing the node and disappearing before anyone could stop him.

Her jaw tightened. She stopped in front of the prisoners, meeting Darius’s calm gaze first, then Cole’s burning glare.

Darius watched her with the patience of someone who understood the situation.

Cole looked a lot more unstable.

Irene let the silence set, allowing Cole to calm himself down.

She needed information, not blind anger.

And most of all, she needed clarity.

She pushed her twin brother from her mind.

For now.

"Where is your river base located?" Irene’s voice was steady, honed from years of command training.

Darius regarded her with measured assurance, offering nothing. Not even a word to spare for his captors.

"Students stationed there?" She tried again.

Darius’s silence was maddening.

"Is Sapphire handling the runic defenses?"

Another pause met her inquiry, his expression unchanged. Class S could learn nothing from his stoic refusal.

To her side, Cole began to stir, a tempest of anger barely contained by the restraints. Bruised, his breath ragged, he glared at her with eyes aflame. Darius’s silence meant nothing to him. Each unanswered question, each non-responsive reply, fueled his rage.

One of the guards stepped forward, frustration clear on his face, but Irene raised a hand to stop him. Darius was doing exactly what a captured commander should do.

They wouldn’t get answers out of him by talking. There was no point.

"Why don’t you ask about your bastard brother?" Cole snapped, venom coating his words.

"Cole." Darius’s voice cut through the clearing like a blade. "Stop talking."

Cole jerked against his bindings, face flushed. "No! She needs to know what he did!"

"She knows more than enough."

"She doesn’t know anything!" Cole twisted toward Irene, breath coming hard. "You want to know why we’re here? Ask about Ronan. Ask why he attacked Darius instead of helping him. Ask why he took the node and left us behind!"

Irene’s chest tightened. She forced her expression to be smooth. "You will be silent."

He was talking, but it was information she already knew. She didn’t want to hear about him right now.

"Cole." Darius’s tone dropped into something colder. "If you keep talking, you give them what they want."

"I don’t care!" Cole’s voice rose. "Ronan betrayed us, and you’re sitting here protecting him!"

The room shifted.

Cole had said the name she had been trying not to think about, and now she had to confront it.

Grace entered the holding area, her presence accompanied by a healer, a subtle figure whose aura suggested calm rather than command.

The entire mood shifted with her entrance.

It wasn’t through any pronounced authority, but through an unspoken serenity that she radiated.

Class S’s tension visibly eased as Grace began with simple queries.

"Darius’s wound – has it been stabilized?" Her voice was soft but carried a familiar weight.

The healer responded promptly, confirming the wound was cleanly treated, ensuring Darius remained coherent.

Grace nodded, acknowledging the answer.

"Has Cole received suitable care? Water?"

Cole simmered within his restraints angrily.

The support student verified that he had indeed been given water.

"And Irene," Grace continued, her gaze finding her. "Your neck. Is it properly treated?"

The mention of her wound jolted a flicker of realization within Irene.

Though aware of Grace’s potential saintess training, the precise alignment of her questions still disturbed Irene.

Was it natural perception, or something beyond ordinary skill?

Irene felt distracted by the dilemma.

"Your report, Irene?" Grace requested with a gentle voice.

Irene knew what was required. Her words unfolded steadily.

"The trap activated cleanly," she began. "We captured Darius. Class B broke through the encirclement. Ronan returned to retrieve the node with a small team. In the chaos, Cole was taken. Darius remains under our possession."

Grace listened without interruption, and Irene couldn’t shake the sense that Grace was less surprised than expected.

Her manner showed no irritation, nor any reprimand for the lost node.

The absence of anger was eerily discomforting. Irene knew logically the node wasn’t important, but some irritation would have made sense.

Instead, Grace’s focus narrowed, zeroing in on details that Irene would have rather not talked about. "Did Ronan attack before or after the formation split?"

"After," Irene responded.

"Did smoke spread prior to Wesley’s disappearance?"

"Just moments after."

"Did he strike you before moving to the statue or after?"

"Before."

"Was Darius injured before Ronan took the node?"

"Afterwards."

"And tell me Irene, just so we are certain, you are talking about Ronan Ashbourne, your brother, right?"

Irene didn’t understand the question. Who else would she be talking about? Regardless, she nodded her head.

Grace didn’t reply, instead turning away from Irene and back towards the prisoners.

"So, you two," Grace said, addressing the two captives. "Let’s hear a report from the both of you. How does that sound?"