"Your feet are too loud," Raven whispered, guiding Lia through the darkened corridors of a merchant's mansion. "Step with the edge of your foot first, then roll to the heel."

  Three weeks had passed since the masquerade, and their partnership had evolved into something unexpected – teacher and student, protector and protected. Tonight marked their fourth mission together, investigating a smuggling ring that threatened the kingdom's economy.

  Lia followed his instructions, marveling at how silently he moved. In the novel, Raven's skills had seemed almost supernatural. In person, they were even more impressive.

  "Better," he murmured, so close she felt his breath on her ear. "Now, when we reach the corner, press yourself against the wall and wait for my signal."

  They'd developed a rhythm – him leading, her following, both adapting to threats as they arose. Once, when guards nearly discovered them, he'd pressed her into an alcove, his body shielding hers as footsteps passed inches away. Another time, she'd distracted a suspicious servant while he slipped past, their coordination seamless.

  During quiet moments between dangers, he began sharing pieces of himself.

  "I was six when they took me," he said one night, as they waited on a rooftop for their target to appear. "The Shadow Corps doesn't recruit – they acquire. They found me picking pockets in the slums and decided I had potential."

  "That's horrible," Lia breathed.

  His silver eyes gleamed in the moonlight. "It was salvation. The streets would have killed me. The Corps gave me purpose, even if that purpose was..." He trailed off.

  "Was what?"

  "Learning to kill before I learned to read." His voice held no emotion, but she sensed the pain beneath. "My first assignment was at age ten. A corrupt merchant who'd been selling tainted grain. They said it was justice. I still see his face sometimes."

  Lia reached for his hand impulsively, then stopped. Such gestures belonged to her world, not this one.

  But Raven caught her movement. "You would have comforted me," he observed. "The old Allura would have mocked such weakness."

  "You're not weak," she said firmly. "Surviving that, becoming who you are despite it – that's strength."

  Something flickered in his expression – surprise, perhaps, or hope.

  As their missions continued, Lia found herself wondering about another absence in her life. In all her adventures with Cassian and Raven, she'd never once encountered Seraphina. No glimpses at court, no mentions in gossip, no traces of the heroine who should have been central to everything.

  "Have you noticed," she asked Raven one evening, as they decoded stolen documents in his private office, "that Lady Seraphina seems remarkably absent from society?"

  His hand stilled on the paper. "What do you know of Lady Seraphina?"

  "Just... rumors," she lied carefully. "They say she was supposed to be special. Blessed by the gods. Yet I've never seen her at any events."

  Raven's mask slipped for just a moment – a fsh of something like grief crossed his features. "Some mysteries are better left unexplored," he said quietly. "Focus on the task at hand."

  But his reaction only deepened her suspicions. Something was wrong with the story's progression, and even Raven seemed to know it.

  Their final mission of the month required them to pose as newlyweds at an inn, gathering information from traveling merchants. As they shared a room for appearance's sake – him taking the floor despite her protests – the forced intimacy created a different kind of tension.

  "You should take the bed," she insisted. "Your back must ache from all these missions."

  "I've slept in worse pces." But he allowed her to create a pallet of extra bnkets for him.

  In the darkness, his voice came softly: "Why do you care? About my comfort, my past, any of it?"

  "Because you're more than your role," she answered honestly. "Just like I'm trying to be more than mine."

  Silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken words. Then: "Whoever you really are, Allura... I'm gd you're here now."

  The next morning, she woke to find him watching her, something unguarded in his expression. He looked away quickly, but not before she caught a glimpse of longing that matched her own.

  "Multiple affection points gained," ALICE chimed in her dreams that night. "Warning: Pursuing both royal and shadow routes simultaneously may lead to complicated outcomes."

  But as Lia drifted to sleep, thinking of silver eyes and shared secrets, she realized she was already entangled in a web of feelings she couldn't escape – even if she wanted to.