Royal Academy: The Royal Lycans

Tomorrow

(Orla's POV)

He's close.

Elis's voice drifted through my mind, soft and content, as I picked at the food on my plate. The mess hall buzzed with quiet conversation, cadets grouped at tables throughout the room, but my leopard's attention was fixed entirely on one person.

I know, I replied internally. He's right there.

Not close enough.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Since the sparring matches had started—since I'd first faced Silas in the ring—Elis had become increasingly fixated. She liked the fighting. Liked the challenge of him. But it was more than that. She liked being near him, watching him, having him in her sights.

I didn't understand it. He was arrogant. Entitled. Infuriating. But Elis didn't care about any of that. She just wanted to be close.

I stabbed a piece of roasted meat and brought it to my mouth, chewing mechanically while my thoughts drifted back to this afternoon. Elara's voice still echoed in my head—calm, cutting, brutally honest.

You're so focused on proving it that you're missing the point entirely.

I'd wanted to argue. To defend myself. But she wasn't wrong. And Silas...

I remembered the way he'd looked when Elara told him he was here because no one else could get through to him. The tightness in his jaw. The flicker of something in his blue eyes that might have been shame. Standing there in his sweat and bruises, stripped of the cocky confidence he wore like armor. An odd ache had risen in my chest. A strange, inexplicable urge to reach out. To say something.

I hadn't, of course. I didn't understand why I'd wanted to. We were teammates. That was all. We were supposed to work together, not comfort each other.

He looked broken, Elis murmured.

He looked humbled, I corrected. There's a difference.

Same thing. Broken is just humbled without hope.

I pushed the thought away and focused on my plate. The food was good—better than I'd expected when I first arrived—but tonight it tasted like nothing.

Across the table, Silas sat with Kieran, Bram, and Tavin, the four of them eating in relative quiet. Kieran and Bram were talking about something—training schedules, maybe—while Tavin listened with the careful attention he brought to everything. Silas was silent. I watched him from the corner of my eye, the way his jaw worked as he chewed, the way his shoulders held tension even at rest. He was still raw from today. Still smarting.

Good, I thought.

Not good, Elis countered. He should be whole.

Why do you care?

She didn't answer.

Elara rose from her seat at the head of the table, and the quiet conversation died instantly. Everyone straightened, attention snapping to her like soldiers awaiting orders. She had that effect—command without effort, authority without announcement. "Before you're dismissed for the evening," she said, her voice carrying easily through the hall, "I have two announcements." The room waited. "First, the entire team will be attending the Full Moon Ceremony at the palace in four days."

Murmurs rippled through the cadets. I kept my face neutral, but my heart rate ticked up. The palace. The royal court. A room full of Lycans and wolves from across the kingdom, all of them watching, judging.

We'll be fine, Elis said. We've earned our place. I wasn't so sure.

"Second," Elara continued, "tomorrow you'll have a sparring demonstration. Royal Beta Elara and Princess Dessaria Rioun will be facing off in the training ring."

Silas went still.

I noticed it immediately—the way his fork froze halfway to his mouth, the way the color drained from his face. His blue eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and something that looked remarkably like fear flickered across his features. He knows exactly what she can do, I realized.

"Princess Dessaria?" Bram's voice cut through the quiet, interested and oblivious. "The King's daughter?"

Elara's expression didn't change. "The same."

"I'd like to see that," Bram said, leaning forward. "Never seen a princess fight before."

Silas chuckled. It was a low sound, almost hollow. "She'll kick your ass without breaking a sweat. Any of you."

Bram raised an eyebrow. "That confident?"

"She's been trained by Fa...the King and Queen themselves," Silas said, setting down his fork. "Since she could walk. Trust me—you don't want to underestimate her."

Something in his voice made Bram pause. Made all of us pause.

"Sounds like someone who knows from experience," Tavin observed quietly.

Silas's jaw tightened. "Something like that."

The conversation lulled, and I found myself wondering what it must have been like—growing up with Dessaria as a sister. Training alongside her. Watching her become something formidable while you were still figuring out who you were.

Bram cleared his throat, leaning back in his chair with a thoughtful expression. "You know," he said, "seeing as we're going to the palace and all...I've been thinking about mates."

Kieran snorted. "You're always thinking about mates."

"Not always." Bram shrugged, unbothered. "But seriously—Emberfall's been pushing me to settle down. My mother keeps sending letters about eligible females from allied packs." He shook his head. "I keep telling her I'm not interested in someone who'll just agree with everything I say. I want someone who'll challenge me. Someone with fire." He grinned. "Someone who can pin me to the mat and make me like it."

Tavin rolled his eyes. "That's specific."

"It's honest." Bram looked around the table. "What about the rest of you? What do you look for?"

Kieran muttered something about finding someone patient, which earned a laugh from Bram. Tavin said he valued intelligence above all else—someone who could see patterns he missed.

Then Bram turned to Silas.

"What about you, Prince Charming? You've got your pick of the kingdom. What's your type?"

Silas shrugged, the gesture casual but his eyes distant. "I don't know. Someone strong. Someone who can hold their own."

"That's it?"

"Someone who understands what it means to be part of this world." He paused, considering. "As long as they're a Lycan or a wolf, I'm not too picky."

The words landed like a slap.

My fork scraped against my plate—too loud in the sudden silence. Across the table, I felt Kieran wince. Beside me, Tavin's posture went rigid. And Elara's gaze sharpened. Silas must have felt the shift, because he looked up, confusion flickering across his face before he registered the glares directed at him—mine, Elara's, and from Bram, whose grin had faltered into something awkward.

"I—" Silas started, then stopped. His brow furrowed as realization dawned. "Sorry. That came out wrong."

"Did it?" I asked, my voice flatter than I intended.

"It's just my preference," he said, and there was something almost defensive in his tone. "I didn't mean—"

"You meant what you said." I looked back down at my plate. "It's fine."

It wasn't fine.

Elis curled tighter inside me, wounded in a way I didn't fully understand. We were a leopard shifter. An omega-born from Black Ridge. We'd never been what anyone wanted—certainly not what a prince would look for in a mate. But hearing it said out loud, so casually, like it was the most natural thing in the world...

Lycan or wolf, Elis echoed, the words bitter. Not us.

Stop, I told her. It doesn't matter.

But it did.

I didn't know why it mattered so much, and that frustrated me more than anything.

The meal finished in uncomfortable silence. Bram tried to steer the conversation back to safer ground—training, the demonstration tomorrow, anything—but the energy had shifted. Elara dismissed us with a sharp nod, her eyes lingering on Silas for a moment longer than necessary—cold and displeased. I rose from the table without looking at him, gathering my things and heading for the door.

I made it halfway across the room before Elis's voice stopped me. He's watching.

I don't care.

You're lying.

So are you.

She didn't deny it.

I walked out into the cool evening air, letting it wash over me, trying to shake the weight of those four words. Lycan or wolf. Such a small preference. Such an ordinary thing to say. And yet...

He looked broken, Elis whispered again. When Elara scolded him. He looked like someone who needed...

Don't, I warned.

Someone who needed us.

I pushed the thought away and kept walking. Tomorrow would bring the demonstration. Dessaria Rioun and Royal Beta Elara, showing us what true partnership looked like. Tonight, I just needed to forget. Even if my leopard wouldn't let me.