VEILBORN

SLEEPLESS & SEEN.

CHAPTER 2: Sleepless & Seen.

Setting: Level 2 training yard and Level 3 walkway, Day 1 Night

I couldn’t sleep.

Cell 12 was cold, stone hard, and smelled like damp ash. Every time I closed my eyes I saw glacier eyes looking through me like I wasn’t there.

“Move.” One word. That was it. I didn't know why it bothered me so much, but it did.

Asshole.

I gave up at 1am. Slipped out of Cell 12. Ash Tier was quiet. Curfew meant no students were supposed to be out, but I wasn’t planning to get caught. I just needed air that didn’t taste like stone.

I climbed the stairs to Level 2. The floating gardens were closed, but the training yard between Level 2 and 3 was open. Chains held lanterns that burned low blue.

And they were there.

Four figures in black uniforms. Training.

White-silver hair. Runes glowing faint on neck and arms. The Ice Prince.

Big guy with earth magic marks. Quiet. Throwing stone weights.

Fire guy with a smirk, tossing fire between his hands.

Copper hair, gray eyes, athletic build. His shadow. Throwing illusion daggers that vanished mid air.

Ember Fang. Training at 1am like it was normal.

I should’ve turned back. Ash Tier wasn’t allowed on Level 2 after curfew.

But I was curious. And angry. And sleepless.

I stayed in the shadow of a pillar, watching.

The Ice Prince moved without sound. Ice formed at his fingertips, shaped into blades, shattered, reformed. He didn’t speak. Didn’t smile. Didn’t breathe hard. Just… efficient. Cold.

The fire guy said something. The Ice Prince didn’t answer. The big earth guy offered him a wrapped snack. The Ice Prince took it, ate it in two bites, went back to training.

Five words max. Reputation confirmed.

I leaned forward too far.

My boot scuffed the stone.

The noise was tiny. A whisper.

All four heads turned.

The Ice Prince’s glacier eyes locked on me. He saw me instantly. No surprise. Just… assessment. Like I was a problem to categorize.

He walked toward me. Slow. Each step dropped the temperature. Frost spread on the stone.

My heart hammered. I should run. Ash Tier caught on Level 2 = punishment.

He stopped 3 feet away. Looked down at me. Same look as this morning. Like I was dirt on his boot.

“What are you doing,” he said. Four words. Flat. No question mark.

I opened my mouth. No lie came out. It felt like even if I tried to lie, he would know. “I… couldn’t sleep.”

He stared. One second. Two.

Footsteps behind him. The copper-haired girl was coming over, eyes sharp. “Kael? What is it?”

The Ice Prince didn’t look away from me. Then, without blinking, he turned his head half an inch toward her and said,

“Rat.”

One word.

Then he turned back to me. “Leave,” he said. “Now.”

Dismissal. Disgust. Like I was vermin.

The copper-haired girl stopped mid-step. “A rat? In the training yard?” She wrinkled her nose. “Ash Tier is disgusting.”

I didn’t wait. I bolted. Down the stairs, back to Level 1, heart pounding.

He didn’t know my name. Didn’t care. I was just a rat to him.

I hated him more than this morning.

But I also couldn’t stop seeing the way his runes had glowed when he looked at me. Like he was trying to figure out what I was.

Ce

ll 12 was colder when I got back.

Perfect.