Bound - The Primori Academy

Human

"She's a student," the headmistress replied coolly. "And you will show her around the academy. That's not a request."

Kenzi's eyes flashed with something Elowen couldn't name. Anger, maybe. Or frustration. But she didn't argue. Just turned her gaze back to Elowen and said, "Fine. Let's go."

Elowen stood quickly, grabbing her bag, and followed Kenzi out of the office before the headmistress could say anything else.

The hallway felt colder now.

Kenzi walked fast, her footsteps sharp against the stone floor, and Elowen had to hurry to keep up. They didn't speak. Kenzi didn't look at her. Just moved through the castle like she owned it, taking turns without hesitation, navigating the labyrinth of corridors with ease.

"That's the library," Kenzi said without slowing, gesturing to a set of ornate double doors. "You can use the main floor. The restricted section is off-limits to *humans*."

There it was again. That word. That emphasis.

Elowen's stomach twisted. She wanted to ask what it meant—why Kenzi kept saying it like that, why it felt like a brand being pressed into her skin—but the words stuck in her throat.

They passed a group of students clustered near a window, their conversation dying the moment Kenzi and Elowen approached. One of them—a boy with silver hair and eyes that reflected light like a cat's—glanced at Elowen, then at Kenzi, and something unspoken passed between them.

"Is she—" he started.

"Yes," Kenzi cut him off. "*Human.*"

The boy's expression shifted. Not quite pity. Not quite curiosity. Something else. Something that made Elowen feel like prey.

They kept walking.

"Feeding Without Killing is on the third floor," Kenzi continued, her tone flat. "You'll have it twice a week. It's going to be... interesting, having a *human* in that class."

Elowen's pulse quickened. *Feeding Without Killing.* What kind of class was that? And why did being human make it interesting?

She tried to memorize the route. Tried to notice landmarks—a statue here, a tapestry there—but everything blurred together. The castle was too big. Too overwhelming. And Kenzi was moving too fast.

Another hallway. Another turn. More students who glanced at her with that same unsettling awareness, their beauty too sharp, their movements too fluid, their eyes too knowing.

"Combat and Defense is in the east wing," Kenzi said. "You'll probably struggle more than the rest of us. Human like you would."

There was no malice in her voice. Just fact. Cold, clinical fact. But it made Elowen's skin crawl.

*What does that mean?* she wanted to scream. *What's wrong with being human? Why does everyone keep looking at me like I'm something fragile or broken or—*

But she didn't say anything. Just followed Kenzi through the maze of corridors, her chest tight, her mind racing.

Finally, they stopped in front of a door.

"This is us," Kenzi said flatly.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The room was larger than Elowen had expected—two beds, two desks, a window that looked out over the academy grounds. One side of the room was clearly lived-in: books stacked on the desk, clothes draped over the chair, personal items scattered across the surfaces. The other side was empty. Waiting.

Kenzi dropped onto her bed and crossed her arms. "Look, I don't know what you did to get a scholarship here, and I don't care. But let's get one thing straight—I didn't want a roommate. Especially not a *human* one. So stay out of my way, don't touch my stuff, and we'll be fine."

Elowen stood in the doorway, her bag still on her shoulder, her chest tight.

*Especially not a human one.*

The words echoed in her head, sharp and cutting. She wanted to ask. Wanted to demand an explanation. Wanted to know why being human was such a problem, why everyone kept saying it like it was a curse or a weakness or something fundamentally wrong.

But the words wouldn't come.

Kenzi's expression softened slightly—just a fraction. "Your bed's over there. Unpack or whatever. I'll give you the rest of the tour tomorrow."

And then she turned away, pulling out a book and effectively dismissing Elowen's existence.

Elowen set her bag down on the empty bed and sat beside it.

The room was quiet except for the sound of pages turning.

She looked out the window at the impossible castle grounds, at the students moving below with their too-perfect grace, at the world that had appeared out of thin air and swallowed her whole.

*Human.*

The word kept circling in her mind, heavy and strange and wrong.

Was it an insult here? A category? A warning?

And if everyone else wasn't human—if that's what the word meant, if that's why they moved like that, looked like that, spoke like that—then what were they?

Her hands were shaking.

She pressed them against her knees and tried to breathe.

This was her new life. This impossible place with its impossible people and its impossible rules she didn't understand.

And somewhere, buried beneath the fear and confusion, a darker question began to take root:

*What if I'm not human either?*