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Sometime later a knock at the door was followed by Riven popping his head into the office and instantly he was glowering, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Please escort Miss Li back to her room now that we have concluded official Sentinel business," Azrael said, giving him no choice in the matter.

I glared at my annoying uncle. "You are not funny!" I hissed at him, getting to my feet.

"A differing opinion we will surely have today," he said with a smile, tucking his notes into his jacket pocket then dismissively waved us away.

I sulked from the office, shoving my hands in my hoodie pockets as I went, and Riven followed with much reluctance.

That was obvious.

Walking with the pouting Guardian behind me was annoying, and every time I slowed down so he could catch up to me so I could talk to him, he'd slow down.

If I sped up, he did.

If I zigged and zagged, he did the same, with a growl of irritation.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I stopped then I spun around to face him.

Riven stopped and looked up at me, the nearly twenty-three-centimeter height difference felt like so much more at that moment.

I hadn't noticed before, but there was something different about Guardian Harker. It could be because he was half-human, but I don't think that was entirely it.

Riven's light lavender eyes were large and round with thin, flat burnt orange brows over them that were constantly knitted together in irritation. He wore round, metal-frame glasses that were slightly too big for his face, and the flecks of silver in his eyes sparked with little bursts when he was irritated, much like now. His smaller ears were slightly pointed, he had a small button nose with a soft dusting of freckles, and his complexion was soft morning dew with rosy cheeks.

He does look young.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Riven complained, pushing his sliding glasses back up his nose.

"In the sun, your hair looks like an out-of-control fire on the horizon," I said, admiring how the sun caught on his burnt orange and copper hair, making the darker auburn strands appear almost metallic.

He glared at me.

"I'm sorry about what happened before at the Blood Brothel," I said.

"I do not want your pity," he sneered, his pouty top lip pulling up over his small, square teeth.

Why hadn't I noticed, like really noticed, him before?

"Walk with me, as an equal even if I'm a student, because it's hard to talk to you when you're behind me and I want to talk to you," I said, motioning for him to walk with me.

Suspicious, Riven pulled his stake out and kept it down at his side as he joined me.

Yeah, this was going to be a great working relationship.

"I grew up outside the Palace of the Unified House," I said, heading towards my dorm and he walked in time with me, but with enough space between us that he could defend himself if needed. "Because of that, I was constantly surrounded by Sentinels, Guardians, and the Imperial Guard. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a Sentinel, the best of the best. But because I was born Mundane, I was told it'd never happen."

Riven looked at me. "You are Mundane?" he whispered in disbelief.

I nodded.

"That is impossible," he argued. "I have never been hit that hard before! Even in my training with my mother's people have I never been hit that hard!"

That was interesting.

Of course, I took that as a compliment.

"Most likely it was from the healing mud," I promised him. "I felt an overwhelming surge of power and strength afterward, but it's waned now."

He nodded. "Of course. That makes sense."

"I am sorry that I hit you that hard though," I apologized. "I didn't realize that I had that kind of strength and it'd do that. I just thought I'd knock you away or cause you to go on the defensive so I could talk some sense into you."

Riven snorted. "Orders are orders," he reminded me. "As a Sentinel-in-training, you would be wise to remember that."

Yeah, back to that.

"As I was saying before you interrupted me," I said, pulling the door to the dorms open and headed inside and he followed. "I grew up knowing that there are two kinds of Protectors of Light: those that protect out of obligation and those from the heart; Sentinels and Guardians. I vowed to protect from the heart and to never turn a blind eye to what is right and wrong. I would follow my conscience and heart, even if it meant constantly facing adversity."

Riven snorted. "You picked the wrong job then," he informed me when we reached my suite on the fourth floor. "Following orders is order. Those that disobey orders because they don't agree with them, are what is wrong with this world and society."

I chuckled. "You sound like my mother," I informed him. "But let me ask you this: who gave you the order?"

He scoffed and started to open his mouth then promptly closed it.

I pressed my hand on the door to my suite and it disengaged the sigil and lock before I opened it. "You assumed a handed-down execution of a stripped-of-crown Princess, one of the few remaining Necromancers in our world, one of two with a crown even if it was taken from her. And yet I'm the bad guy in your eyes because I fought for her right to exist simply merely because she voiced her opinion on something that she was misinformed on," I said, looking down at him.

"I had every right," he argued, pushing his glasses back up his nose, but we both knew it was simply his pride that caused the words to spill from his lips.

"From what little I know of your story, Guardian Harker," I started, "your mother and stripped-of-title and crown Princess Majandra of House Thanos have much in common when it comes to the prejudicial treatment and biased opinions of others and the actions of those that were merely following orders from a time when there were no gray areas in our world. Your ambition and need to prove that you deserve to be in this world instead of the human world, is what allowed you to climb the ranks as you have in the Imperial Guard. But if you want to stay there, you need to understand that those in the Imperial Guard lead with their hearts, and there is no room in their hearts for pride."

"Is that a threat?" Riven demanded.

Yeah, Zannie was going to beat this guy's ass the first chance he gets.

"Word of advice from someone who has seen more Sentinels and Guardians come and go in her young life than you could imagine," I said. "And the fact that you are just standing there instead of doing a sweep of my suite only reiterates that this gig might not be a good fit for you."

"Huh?" he asked, his eyes wide and his slightly pointed ears perked up.

"Yeah, that is why Commander Azrael wanted you to escort me back to the dorms while Zane is terrorizing the Architects with Slevin. Harper is trying to track Jolyn down; she's been weird lately and we need to talk. Normally I wouldn't bother having you check, but I'm trying to mend bridges here without burning others."

Riven stepped around me. "Stay back while I make sure it is safe," he warned, playing the role of Imperial Guard, and sheathed his stake before heading into the suite.

I leaned against the door and watched.

When I was a little girl, Uncle Azrael told me that you can learn a lot about a Sentinel by the way they wielded their thaumaturgy. Detection spells, sigils, the fluidity that they cast, how their bodies move as their thaumaturgy and physical body, and their soul, move in time as one...

It was like a ballet.

There was no set way to do it, each Sentinel did it their own way, what worked for Azrael wouldn't work for Riven, and vice versa. It was a personally choreographed dance that connected their soul, thaumaturgy, years of training, dexterity, and, according to Father, their ancestors.

Since Riven was half-human, I wasn't sure what hue his thaumaturgy would be or how he'd wield it, but the circular disks of warding that flared to existence on the palms of his hands before he pushed them out away from him were made of intricate runes, sigils, and writing in an ancient language I couldn't read. They were illuminated in lavender and orange that matched his eyes and hair with copper electrical currents wrapping through them.

Even still, I couldn't figure out what in the hell he was, but it would be fun to figure out as long as it didn't put Zane in harm's way.