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I was ready to go after Grace, but I knew she didn’t want to hear what I had to say.

“Of course you saw me! You did this on purpose.”

Norah’s shrill voice stung my eardrums as I glanced behind me to where Veronica stood calmly, staring at Norah, now drenched in soup. She was holding an empty tray with that same flat expression she always had on.

Seeing Norah in this state should’ve amused me, but I wasn’t.

Grace was already gone, and the way she snapped back at me a few minutes ago didn’t make things any better.

I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling like fucking shit.

“Hunter Cain?”

I turned sharply at the sound of my name.

A Celestial stood stiffly before me. “Azrael has requested your presence in his office. Immediately.”

Of course, he had.

I didn’t waste time responding; I just pushed past the Celestial, leaving a screaming Norah in Veronica’s hands and headed straight to Azrael’s office.

He didn’t look up as I entered. He was sitting behind his desk, back straight and suit dark, blending with the velvet high-backed chair.

Azrael barely ever summoned me to his office, but when he did, it was always something I didn’t care about.

The stained-glass windows of his office bled fractured light across the stone walls, casting jagged patterns against the floor. The air, on the other hand, smelt like old parchment and metal. It always made me feel restless in here.

“You wanted to see me?” I asked, hoping he dismissed me soon enough.

He raised his head slowly, studying me with those pale green eyes. “I want you to win tonight,” he said plainly, not wasting any time.

I scoffed. “Not that I’m honored or anything, but why?”

Azrael leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled across his abdomen. “Because I believe you’d make an exceptional Authority.”

Ah, there it was.

Authority. Heaven’s military kings. The enforcers.

I let out a short, humorless laugh. He wasn’t trying to be kind or even motivating.

He was being strategic.

This wasn’t about me. It was about control. Ever since I arrived here, Azrael took it upon himself to mold me into exactly what he wanted. Another weapon in his arsenal.

Azrael stared at me as I shook my head with amusement. Then, slowly, he stood and moved toward an iron safe embedded in the stone wall. He turned the lock before reaching inside and pulling out a thin, sealed envelope.

Without a word, he walked back to the desk and dropped it in front of me.

“What’s this?” I asked, eyeing it warily. The stamp on it told me it was from the Council.

“Open it.”

I snatched it from his desk and broke the seal in record timing. My eyes skimmed the Council’s emblem of a wing, then the words that followed.

In light of recent events and ongoing concerns regarding the stability of the Ascendant ranks, the Council has reached a decision regarding the upcoming Ascension Competition.

It has been deemed necessary to include Grace Martin in this year’s selection of competitors.

This decision is not founded on her merit, skill, or potential but rather serves a greater purpose: to show the first order of the Angelic Hierarchy, the inherent divide between Ascendants and humans.

Her inclusion will provide undeniable evidence that mortals—regardless of training or circumstance—cannot endure the demands required of our kind.

Let her participation stand as a public testament to the Council’s unwavering belief that ascending is not something granted through effort but by divine birthright.

We trust that this demonstration will silence further discourse regarding non-Ascendants’ integration into Celestial ranks.

This matter is to remain confidential. No other members of the faculty, including Celestial Nadael, are to be informed. We expect you to monitor this situation closely.

Her inevitable failure will serve its purpose.

By Order of the Angelic Council,

Archangel Seraphiel

High commander of the Authorities

Archangel Meriel

Council overseer of all Celestia Academies

Archangel Cael

Advisor of Celestial Doctrine

Dated 6th of October

My grip on the letter tightened, the edges crumbling beneath my fingers.

Inevitable failure.

They didn’t choose her because they saw potential.

They chose her to watch her break . To prove that humans could never stand beside Ascendants.

“Is this why she made the list instead of Matias?” My voice was low and fucking dangerous, but my heart split, just remembering how Grace’s face lit up one time as she told me how great it felt to finally be in the top five of something.

Azrael nodded. “The Council directly sent it to me. They knew Nadael and Joe would oppose.”

“Why are you showing me this?” I snapped.

Azrael’s gaze sharpened as he sat down. “Because I know you didn’t want her here to begin with.”

I clenched my teeth. “Grace has done more without powers than half the people here. She earned her place to stay here.”

His expression didn’t change. “She shouldn’t be here at all, Cain. She’s useless to us.”

The words triggered a memory. One where Nadael didn’t allow my brother to come here with me.

Because Hunter... humans are useless to us in this place. You’ll learn to realize that in time.

My fists clenched, anger swarming my vision.

“Nadael has become too soft over the years. She excuses everything regarding Joe because she sees him as a son. She doesn’t realize how much danger she is putting us in by having Grace here.”

I stared at Azrael. “What do you mean?”

Azrael’s silence stretched just long enough to twist something in my gut.

“Grace didn’t just appear on Joe’s doorstep by chance,” he said finally. “She was brought here for a reason.”

My gaze narrowed on his.

“Her mother was a Riftkeeper. A powerful one. Until she betrayed their kind.”

Her mother was a Riftkeeper.

My pulse pounded in my ears over Azrael’s revelation.

How—

“Supposedly, instead of killing Joe, she fell in love with him. But when Grace’s father—another Riftkeeper—found out, he killed her.”

The room tilted.

“But not before her mother gave Grace to Joe for protection.”

My hands were shaking.

That’s why they were always moving. Why Joe was so desperate to keep her hidden.

Why she was here.

And I had inadvertently put her in danger, taking her into the den of Riftkeeper’s.

“And Joe...” I said quietly. “Was he—”

“No.” Azrael shook his head. “He wouldn’t be here if he had fallen for her. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care for Grace’s mother.” He sighed. “Like I said before... Grace shouldn’t be here. She’s dangerous. More than anyone realizes. But the Council is too blinded by other threats to see it.”

I needed to get out of here.

I needed to think.

I stormed toward the door, my hand hovering over the doorknob.

“I suggest you think carefully before running to tell her.”

I stilled.

“Especially since I know how much you’ve come to care for her, too.”

The room felt ice-cold.

Slowly, I turned back to face him.

“I’ve noticed it for weeks,” he said casually, like it wasn’t a fucking blade twisting in my chest. “Although I’d say the armory is a terrible place to... well, you know.”

My hands curled into fists.

He knew.

He saw us.

“Why haven’t you told anyone?” I managed to ask, but my voice came out strangled.

A thin smile ghosted across Azrael’s face. “Because Hunter...” He paused, “You’re my favorite student. Whatever it is with her, it’ll pass. But for now, I’ll be rooting for you tonight.”

I hadn’t thought this through. Not properly.

Which was stupid because this was the most important thing I’d ever done.

After leaving Azrael’s office, my head was a mess, which explained why I stood outside Grace’s dorm, fist hovering over the door when Azrael had told me not to run after her.

I shook my head and knocked regardless.

A beat of silence. Then, muffled footsteps. Then—

The door cracked open, and Grace’s head peeked through. She blinked up at me, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Hunter?”

I cut to the chase. “I don’t know how to do this.”

Her eyes flickered with something unreadable. “Do what?”

“This,” I gestured vaguely between us. “I don’t know how to say what I’m thinking without fucking it up. I don’t know how to... be that kind of guy you probably deserve.”

Her eyes widened slightly as she glanced behind her before quickly shutting the door and stepping out into the corridor. I didn’t care that her roommates could have heard all of that at that moment in time, not one fucking bit.

She exhaled sharply, but I didn’t let her get a word out.

“I tell myself that it doesn’t matter. That you don’t matter.

That I could walk away and be fine. But that’s a lie.

Because you are everywhere. You’re in my damn head when I wake up, when I try to sleep, when I step into a room and expect to see you.

It’s—” I dragged a hand down my face, frustrated at myself. “It’s fucking annoying.”

A small breath of laughter escaped her, barely there, but it was enough to make something shift in my chest.

I swallowed. “And then, when you’re not there, when I don’t see you—it’s worse. It feels like something is missing. Like I’m missing something I didn’t even know I needed.”

Her lips parted slightly, but she said nothing.

So, I took a step closer. “I don’t deserve you.

You know that. I’ve screwed up more times than I can count, and I will screw up a thousand times more.

But if there’s even a single part of you that wants me, that feels the same—” my voice dropped lower, rougher, more desperate than I meant it to be “—I need you tell me.”

I just wanted to hear her say it.

I needed it because I was slowly losing my mind.

Her lips parted, and my whole world narrowed in on her. But before she could speak, a voice cut through us, slicing that moment between us to ribbons.

“Mr Cain.”

Grace flinched slightly, snapping her head to where a Celestial stood, arms crossed, and his gaze locked firmly on me.

“You’re out of your sector,” he said coolly. “You’re in the competition. You should be preparing instead of playing visiting hours.”

Grace took a small step back. No. Not now.

I clenched my fists. “I—”

“Now, Cain.”

I clenched my teeth as Grace looked between us. I wanted to tell her to wait. To tell her this conversation wasn’t over. But instead, I did what I always did: I swallowed it down, shoved it deep into the part of me that never got to have good things, and stepped back.

Her expression fell, but she quickly masked it.

I took one last look at her before turning and following the Celestial out of the Healers Sector.

I didn’t get to tell her anything else. And she didn’t get to say whatever the hell she was about to say.

And something in me whispered that we’d just run out of time.