Chapter 38: Something Different

Astrid

I stayed behind after Ivy left for her afternoon activity, notes spread across the table in the empty classroom, my body aching from another round of combat practice and my mind tired from wrestling with the strategy portion of tomorrow’s assessment.

I could have gone home. I stayed anyway. I wanted to prove I belonged here, and that meant not stopping until the numbers on the page actually made sense.

"You’re going to give yourself a headache."

I looked up. Reed stood in the doorway, clearly having watched me long enough to notice how tired I looked.

"I’m fine," I said immediately, straightening.

"You always say that."

"Because I usually am."

"You’re not."

He sat down across from me without waiting for an invitation. No teasing, no lecture, just quiet company settling into the chair.

He looked over my notes, studying the strategy problem I’d been stuck on for the better part of an hour.

"If you’re leading the team," he said, "what is your biggest weakness?"

I thought about it. "Lack of numbers?"

"No."

"Strength?"

"Still no."

"Then what?"

"Predictability."

That caught me off guard. He explained that because I was unconventional, people would expect me to compensate for my missing wolf by playing defensively, holding back, staying cautious. My real advantage was that they’d underestimate me for it.

"So you’re telling me to let them think they understand me," I said slowly.

"Until they don’t."

I smiled. "That’s actually good."

"I know."

I laughed softly. "You really are arrogant."

A small smile crossed his face. "Only when I’m right."

The conversation shifted naturally after that, and I found myself admitting something I usually kept buried.

"Sometimes I think people decided what I am before I even walked through the academy doors," I said. "They see a girl without a wolf and assume she’s weak." I looked down at my hands. "I hate that."

Reed didn’t interrupt, letting me finish before he spoke.

"Then stop trying to prove them wrong," he said.

I looked up. "What?"

"You’re already strong." A pause. "You don’t need to become someone else to prove it."

That landed somewhere deep. I’d spent my whole life proving I could handle myself, and having someone simply see the strength I already had, without demanding anything more from me, felt entirely unfamiliar.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

He nodded, and something in my chest shifted quietly, unremarked upon.

The quiet broke when Xander appeared in the doorway. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," I said.

"Yes," Reed said.

Xander grinned. "Excellent. I’ll stay."

I laughed despite myself. He dropped into the seat beside me, glancing at my notes. "Still studying?"

"Some of us actually want to do well."

He looked offended. "I do well."

"You barely studied yesterday," Reed said.

"I studied emotionally."

I burst out laughing. "What does that even mean?"

"I thought about studying."

Reed shook his head, and the mood lightened considerably, some of the earlier tension breaking apart entirely.

Xander eventually turned serious, an unusual shift for him. "Actually," he said.

I waited.

"You’re going to do well tomorrow."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"No, I’m serious." His tone had changed completely. He told me he’d watched me since I first arrived, how I never complained when things got difficult, never used my missing wolf as an excuse, kept adapting no matter what got thrown at me. "You’re one of the most impressive people I’ve met here."

I stared at him, waiting for the punchline that didn’t come. "You’re not making fun of me?"

He looked almost offended. "Why would I?"

"You make fun of everyone."

"Not about things that matter."

That was his real moment, and I didn’t quite know how to respond to it. "You’re surprisingly nice sometimes," I settled on.

He grinned. "Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation."

By the time we packed everything up, the sun had started setting outside the classroom windows. I expected them to head their separate ways, but instead they simply fell into step beside me, no discussion required.

Xander complained the entire walk about tomorrow’s assessment. Reed told him to stop complaining. Xander accused him of being boring. I laughed at the familiar rhythm of it, completely ordinary, and that was exactly what made it feel significant.

Walking between them, I thought back to when I’d first arrived at Moonshade, how uncomfortable it would have made me to walk beside the princes, wondering what everyone around us was thinking.

Now I barely noticed the stares at all. I just felt comfortable.

I didn’t feel like the scholarship girl walking beside two princes anymore. I felt like Astrid. Their friend. Their teammate. Someone they actually wanted around.

I like this, I thought, and let the thought sit there without examining it too closely.

Not I like them. Not yet.

Just this. Their arguments. Their teasing. Their quiet moments. I’d started looking for them in crowded rooms without meaning to, started expecting Xander’s ridiculous comments, started noticing whenever Reed went quiet.

I told myself that was simply friendship.

We reached the central hall to find students already gathering for another announcement. The Headmaster confirmed the next stage of the ranking assessment would be team-based, worth considerably more points, teams determined by current standings.

Excitement rippled through the crowd immediately.

"Ready?" Xander asked, glancing at me.

"Absolutely."

"Don’t underestimate the other teams," Reed said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about me?"

"I’m advising you."

"He’s worried," Xander said immediately.

"I’m not," Reed said.

"You absolutely are."

I laughed as the team assignments began appearing on the academy display, students crowding forward to check their names. I found mine quickly.

Then noticed something.

My name sat directly beneath the twins’ names.

I looked at Xander. He looked at Reed. Then back at me, a slow grin spreading across his face.

"Well," he said.

"What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

He pointed at the screen. "Looks like we’re going to be spending a lot more time together."

I looked at Reed. He didn’t look disappointed. If anything, something like amusement flickered across his face.

I sighed. "You two are becoming a recurring problem in my life."

"You don’t seem to mind," Xander said.

I opened my mouth to argue.

Nothing came out.

Because, annoyingly, he was right.

I looked away before either of them could catch me smiling.