Night wrapped the dining hall in silence. Doors locked. Lights out. Eydis slipped a stolen keycard through the reader, checked the corridor, and eased inside.

What a sleight of hand, Your Majesty, a familiar voice coiled through her mind. It was Envy who was as welcome as a snake in a nest of eggs.

Solitary confinement teaches new tricks, she shot back mentally. You'd learn a few yourself with a week in a box.

Envy hissed, almost pouting. Ah, Princess Eydis, skulking in the dark. Tell me, Your Majesty, was exile everything you dreamed of?

Oh, absolutely. Stimulating company. Insightful debates with… myself. Unlike certain fork-tongued parasites who trade in rumour over substance.

Silence followed, sulky and delightful.

The hall no longer smelled of food, only bleach, old towels, and detergent. Too clean. Her senses skimmed the air and found nothing unusual, which in itself was unusual.

No trace of Gluttony.

"Curious." She ran a fingertip over a stainless table. "And here I was, thinking that obscene lunch spread was Gluttony at work. Unless, of course, Birgit was just feeling particularly… thirsty today."

She crossed the kitchen and unlocked the freezer doors. A wall of cold punched out. Shelves sagged under towers of frozen meat and pastry, each furred with frost.

Envy thickened beside her. "No sign of our bottomless pit."

Eydis closed her eyes and focused. The presence of darkness was still there, something she could sense. It wavered, slipping in and out of focus, and then it vanished altogether.

That was not how Gluttony behaved. The Sin was insatiable, endless, an abyss that did not fade. Yet now it was nowhere.

She tried again. Still nothing.

Had she misread the signs? Or had this world dulled her perception?

Irritated, she turned away. Maybe she was running on too little sleep. Perhaps, her magic simply wasn't strong enough to sense it.

She relocked the door and walked to the cricket field. Damp grass soaked her boots. Envy drifted off to scout while she knelt and traced fresh lines over an old sigil, subtly adjusting it.

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Unlike its usual visible violet essence, the sigil now functioned as a dark siphon, drawing the shadows inward. It was an elegant, discreet solution designed to hide the tell-tale glow of her cultivation.

Almost perfect.

The problem was that even this method was hardly indoor-friendly. To a passer-by she might look like a student contemplating lint in a mosquito-ridden field, but she knew Astra could see what others could not.

Back to the drawing board.

Eydis closed her eyes and let the dark current flow. As always, her body fought it, a violent push and pull racing her veins. Why? Every being held the capacity for darkness. Light and shadow, two halves of one whole. Basic cosmic harmony.

Unless this body was not meant for it.

What exactly was hidden here?

Light?

Light could be corrupted too. She knew that better than most. A memory rose: a childhood friend, name lost, face blurred, a casualty of the former Queen's guidance.

"That child is not your friend," the Queen had said, her voice colder than usual.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," Eydis had replied. "I must have missed the decree outlawing basic human interaction."

No answer.

"Is it the laughter that bothers you? That someone might be happy without your permission?" she had continued.

"You do not know the forces you toy with," the Queen had hissed. "You will not see her again."

And she hadn't.

A month locked in the dark, alone with only her own thoughts. And her friend's fate was a question she never let herself ask.

Because deep down, she already knew. Because not knowing was easier than staring into the void and finding it staring back.

A lie of a life, an illusion of safety, was… safer.

Shaking the memory, she returned to her current focus. This training was not only for sharper senses. She needed a more intricate working, something precise enough to lure Gluttony, a trap that would draw it in without alerting Astra.

An idea sparked in her mind, something most definitely outrageous.

Envy felt a metaphorical sneeze tickle its nonexistent nose. Before it could wheeze a protest, two figures cut through its smoky perception, heading for the abandoned pitch.

Eydis's golden eyes snapped open at Envy's warning. The dark aura around her withdrew, folding into the shadows as she did the same.

One glance at the newcomers was enough. No one could mistake them.

Theo and Astra, silver-haired and impossibly graceful, crossed the field in silence. Their posture was rigid, vigilant. Hardly two students enjoying a quiet night.

A patrol, then. Interesting.

With the academy's protective fields, patrols were redundant. Which meant they knew something. And if they knew something, it was worth prying into.

She cast one last glance their way before slipping back into the shadows. The pieces weren't fitting together yet, but she would make them.

One way or another.

First, a stop at her dorm.

When Eydis slipped away, Astra stopped in her tracks.

Theo noticed at once, eyes sweeping the dark. "What is it? Do you see something?"

"No," Astra murmured. "Just a feeling."

"A feeling?"

"That someone was here." She turned, scanning the area. There was nothing unusual. No clear disturbance.

Yet the silence felt different. She just couldn't put her finger on what.

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