Diana’s POV
The cafeteria throbbed with noise, forks scraping trays, shoes squeaking on worn linoleum, voices overlapping like static.
Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, one bulb above me flickering like a faulty star, casting a cold pallor that made everything feel colder than it already was.
I sat at the far end, where the shadows gathered and no one dared to follow. My tray held a crust of bread and a sliver of fruit, like even the food didn’t want to be near me.
Two tables away, Eva sat, her chair angled subtly in my direction.
A silent rebellion.
Her posture screamed restraint, but her eyes, those defiant, steady eyes, never stopped watching me. She couldn't speak to me. Couldn't sit beside me. But she stayed close.
That was her rebellion.
Kael’s law.
The outcast decree.
It
