The season's first snow had fallen quietly over Wellington, turning the academy’s training grounds into a sea of white. The once-green fields glimmered under the soft morning light, and the air carried a crisp chill that bit at Scarlett’s cheeks as she stood among the assembled cadets.
Two weeks had passed since the chaos at the Hawthorne estate — the gunmen, the blood, Ethan’s injury. Everything had changed after that night. Her father had tightened security around the family, her mother had taken to praying more often, and Scarlett herself… she had become colder, sharper, more aware of how easily peace could fracture.
And now, she was being sent on her first official mission.
Lieutenant Crawford, a strict man with a jawline as hard as the academy’s marble floors, paced in front of the
