Chapter 62 The Cell

Chapter 62 The Cell

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ravelyn didn't care that her voice carried across the upper tier. She was already on her feet, glaring down at the podium.

The auditorium was an absolute hornets' nest. Hundreds of students were shouting, scraping chairs, and demanding reassignments. Nobody wanted to be locked into an arbitrary three-person cell for a grueling tactical term.

"The assignments are absolute!" the Elder's voice boomed from the stage, amplified by the hall's acoustics. "Any student who attempts to swap, bribe, or ignore their designated cell will face immediate expulsion and a permanent aura-seal. Sit down!"

Ravelyn didn't sit. Her wrist was still burning from Lucius's grip, and her knee was still tingling from Kieran's touch. She felt trapped, physically and magically, between an anvil and a hammer.

"Expulsion doesn't sound so bad right now," Ravelyn muttered, staring at the floating ink of her name above the desk. "At least I get to go back to being free."

"Don't tempt fate, sweetheart," Kieran murmured.

As the demon prince, he didn't even bother looking at the shouting crowd. He just sat back, looking every bit like a bored twenty-three-year-old who owned the room, despite the ancient power humming right under his skin. The students nearest to their row had already instinctively shifted away, keeping a terrified distance from his dark aura because they knew exactly who he was, regardless of his casual posture. He leaned lazily into her space, his dark eyes glittering with wicked amusement. "Besides, you'd miss me too much."

"I would celebrate," she snapped, finally looking at him. "I would throw a party, Kieran. And you wouldn't be invited."

"A party without me is just a meeting," he replied, his smirk widening. He casually draped his arm over the back of her chair, his fingers brushing against the tips of her hair. "Look on the bright side. We get to spend every waking hour together now. It's practically destiny."

"It's a security hazard," Lucius interjected, his voice cutting through Kieran's purr like ice.

Lucius looked like a pristine twenty-two-year-old blonde, but as the leader of the angel faction, his authority among the students was unmatched. He wasn't about to let Kieran control the narrative. He hadn't let go of Ravelyn's wrist yet, his celestial mana acting as a steady barrier against the demon's creeping shadow. "Proctor, this cell configuration is highly unstable. The elemental incompatibility alone—"

"Is your problem to solve, Lucius!" the Elder barked from the stage, pointing a stern finger toward their row.

Even with a demon prince and the head of the angel faction in the room, the proctors held the ultimate institutional authority within the academy walls. Rules were rules, and the school parameters kept even the most ancient lineages in check while they were on campus. "You are the elite of this institution. If the head of the angel faction cannot stabilize a basic three-person cell, you have no business leading the student body. Sit down and accept your orders!"

Lucius's jaw tightened. Slowly, rigidly, he released Ravelyn's wrist and sat back, though his shoulder remained firmly pressed against hers, blocking her view of the rest of the auditorium.

Across the wide aisle, the silence was louder than the shouting crowd.

Nyra hadn't muttered a single word since the announcement. She sat perfectly still, her crimson hair falling forward over her face, shadowing her expression. But the demonic pressure radiating from her seat was turning the air freezing cold. The wood of her desk was slowly frost-ripping under her fingernails.

"Look at her," a whisper floated up from the tier below. It was a pair of third-year noble girls, their heads huddled together, their eyes darting nervously between the prince and the angel leader. "Lady Nyra looks like she's about to execute someone."

"Can you blame her? She leaves for specialized sub-demon training for a few months, and some low-born nobody hitches herself to the prince. Now they're forced into a permanent cell?"

"Ravelyn is as good as dead. The moment they step into the wilderness grounds, there won't be any proctors to save her from an 'accidental' friendly-fire casualty. Neither the prince nor the angel leader can shield her from everything."

"I give her three days. Tops."

Ravelyn heard every word. The crowd was already analyzing the dynamic like a science experiment, treating her survival like a betting pool.

"They're giving you three days," Kieran whispered, leaning even closer, his breath warm against her ear. "Personally, I think you'll last four. Five if you're nice to me."

"If I die in the woods, Kieran, I'm dragging you down to hell with me," Ravelyn said, her voice dropping to a dangerous, flat whisper. "Literally."

"Promise?" he teased.

"Stop baiting her, demon," Lucius warned, his eyes flashing a dangerous, bright silver as he glared across Ravelyn's front. "One more unprompted touch, and I will report a soul-bond violation to the high disciplinary council."

Kieran slowly retracted his arm from the chair, but his smirk never wavered. "Go ahead, angel boy. Tell them everything. Let's see how the council reacts to the news that your precious little star student is bonded to the underworld."

"Both of you need to shut up," Ravelyn hissed, her stomach giving another violent, angry growl. The hunger was making her dizzy, and the overwhelming sensory overload of two massive powers on either side of her was making her head pound. "The next person who speaks to me gets a dagger in the eye."

Down on the stage, the Elder slammed a heavy brass staff against the floor. A shockwave of sound silenced the room instantly.

"Your cell directives will be sent to your personal tablets by midnight," the Elder announced, his eyes sweeping over the tense crowd. "Tomorrow at dawn, the gates to the outer perimeter open. You will deploy with your cells. No exceptions. Dismissed!"

The heavy iron doors at the back of the auditorium threw themselves open.

Immediately, Ravelyn stood up, not wanting to spend a single additional second in the pressure cooker. But before she could step into the aisle, Nyra stood up too.

The crimson-haired girl walked straight across the aisle, stopping directly at the edge of Ravelyn’s desk. Her eyes weren't fixed on Kieran. They were locked entirely on Ravelyn. The sheer, unadulterated hatred in her gaze was thick enough to choke on.

"Enjoy the assignment while it lasts, placeholder," Nyra said, her voice dropping to a deadly, quiet register that only the three of them could hear. She tilted her head, a vicious, empty smile stretching across her lips. "The wilderness is a very unpredictable place. People get lost. People get broken. And sometimes, things happen that nobody can fix."