Nyx POV
I'm breaking into the medical database when Kaelen appears beside me like a ghost.
"That's a terrible idea," he says calmly.
I nearly fall out of my chair, my fingers freezing over the holographic keyboard. The illegal access code I've been building for the past hour glows between us like evidence of a crime.
Which it is.
"I wasn't—" I start, but there's no point lying. He can see exactly what I'm doing. "Please don't report me."
"I won't." He pulls up a chair and sits down like we're study partners instead of criminal and witness. "But you're doing it wrong. You'll trigger the security algorithms in about thirty seconds."
My heart hammers. "How do you know?"
"Because I wrote those algorithms." He leans forward, his blue eyes scanning my code. "Here. You need a recursive bypass on the third layer, or the system will flag you as an intruder."
He's... helping me break into restricted files.
"Why?" The word comes out strangled.
"Because you're trying to save your brother, and the medical database shouldn't be restricted in the first place." His fingers dance across the keyboard, rewriting my code so elegantly it looks like art. "There. Try it now."
I do. The database opens like a flower, giving me access to files I've been searching for since Zephyr got sick.
"Oh my God," I breathe. "It worked."
"Of course it worked." Is that smugness in his voice? "Now, what's your brother's condition?"
"Congenital heart defect. The doctors say he needs a valve replacement, but they won't treat Fringe patients unless we pay upfront. We don't have the money."
Kaelen goes quiet. When he speaks again, his voice is different—softer, almost angry. "That's wrong."
"It's the law."
"Laws can be wrong." He pulls up Zephyr's medical file, scrolling through data faster than I can read. "This is treatable. Easily. The surgery costs less than what most Celestials spend on dinner."
The unfairness of it hits me like a punch. "I know."
"Your brother is sixteen?"
"Yes. How did you—"
"I accessed his file." Kaelen's face is unreadable. "He has maybe six months without treatment. A year if he's lucky."
My throat closes. "Don't. I already know."
"I'm sorry." And he sounds like he means it. "That's not right. None of this is right."
We sit in silence, the medical files floating between us like ghosts of futures that won't happen. I should be scared right now—I'm alone with an Enforcer, breaking laws, accessing restricted information. But Kaelen doesn't feel dangerous. He feels... sad.
"Why are you helping me?" I ask quietly.
He's quiet for so long I think he won't answer. Then: "Because you remind me of someone."
"Who?"
"Someone I used to be. Before they cut him out of me."
The way he says it makes my skin crawl. "What does that mean?"
"Nothing." He closes the medical files abruptly. "It's late. You should get back to your room before someone notices you're gone."
"Wait." I grab his arm without thinking. He flinches like I've burned him, but doesn't pull away. "Can we... can we meet here again? To talk?"
His blue eyes meet mine, and I see something flicker there. War. Like part of him wants to say yes and part of him wants to run.
"Why would you want that?" he asks.
"Because you're the first person at this Academy who's treated me like a human being instead of garbage." The words tumble out before I can stop them. "And because when you talk about code, your eyes light up. You love it like I do. That's rare."
"I don't love anything." But his voice wavers. "I'm not capable of it."
"I don't believe that."
"You should." He stands abruptly. "I'm an Enforcer, Nyxara. We're trained to hunt people like you. This—" he gestures between us, "—isn't friendship. It can't be."
The rejection stings more than it should. "Right. Of course. I'm sorry I—"
"But I'll meet you here tomorrow night anyway." The words come out rushed, like he's confessing a crime. "Same time. We can... talk about code. Nothing else."
My heart does something stupid. "Really?"
"Really." He's already walking away. "And Nyxara? Delete your search history. The security logs keep records for seventy-two hours."
Then he's gone, leaving me alone with a racing pulse and the impossible idea that maybe Kaelen Voss isn't the ice-cold monster everyone thinks he is.
My roommate is awake when I sneak back into our quarters.
Mei sits up in bed, her enhanced eyes glowing in the dark. "Where were you?"
"Library." I kick off my shoes, trying to act casual.
"Liar. The library closed three hours ago." She crosses her arms. "I saw you on the security feed. You were with Kaelen Voss."
My blood turns cold. "You were spying on me?"
"I was worried! Do you have any idea how dangerous he is?" Mei jumps out of bed, grabbing my shoulders. "Nyx, listen to me. Enforcers don't make friends with Fringe students. They use us. They trick us. Then they destroy us."
"He's not like that."
"How do you know?"
"Because he helped me access medical files for Zephyr. He didn't have to do that."
Mei's face goes pale. "He helped you break into restricted databases? Nyx, that's a trap. Don't you see? He's giving you enough rope to hang yourself."
"You're wrong. He's different—"
"They're never different!" Mei's voice cracks. "My sister thought the same thing. She fell for an Enforcer trainee three years ago. He was so nice, so understanding. Then one day, he arrested her for treason and she disappeared into the Culling Zones. I never saw her again."
The story hits me like ice water. "Mei, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Now you do." She releases my shoulders. "Please, Nyx. Stay away from Kaelen Voss. Whatever he's offering you, it's not worth your life."
I want to argue. Want to defend Kaelen, explain that he's not like other Enforcers, that I saw something real in his eyes tonight.
But Mei's fear is too raw. Too honest.
"Okay," I lie. "I'll stay away from him."
She relaxes. "Promise?"
"Promise."
We both climb into our beds, but I don't sleep. I stare at the ceiling, thinking about Kaelen's sad eyes when he talked about being cut apart. About the way he flinched when I touched him, like kindness was foreign. About how he helped me even though he had every reason not to.
Mei is wrong. She has to be.
Kaelen isn't setting a trap.
Is he?
My communicator buzzes softly under my pillow. A message from an encrypted source:
Tomorrow night. Same place. Come alone. -K
I should delete it. Should listen to Mei's warning. Should remember that Enforcers are predators and I'm prey.
But my fingers type back: I'll be there.
I send the message before I can change my mind.
As I finally drift off to sleep, one thought circles endlessly through my mind:
Either Kaelen Voss is the best thing that's ever happened to me at this Academy...
Or he's the trap that will destroy everything.
And I'm walking straight into it with my eyes wide open.
What I don't know—what I can't know—is that three floors above me, Kaelen lies awake too.
Staring at my message on his communicator.
And for the first time in nine years, since his mother performed surgery on his brain, Kaelen Voss feels something he thought was impossible:
Guilt.
Because tomorrow night, when I show up trusting and hopeful and stupidly brave, he'll take another step toward destroying me.
And the worst part?
He's starting to wish he could stop.