Chapter 41: Pick Your Fighter

Astrid

The instructor laid out the rules for the next round. Each team would nominate one member for a controlled combat match against an opponent. Whoever won earned points for the entire team.

I looked between Reed and Xander. Xander stepped forward immediately.

"Pick me."

Reed crossed his arms. "You don’t know who we’re fighting."

"Doesn’t matter."

"That’s reassuring," I said.

Xander grinned. "I’m charming under pressure."

"You’re reckless under pressure."

"Same thing."

I laughed, then turned to Reed. "What do you think?"

"It depends on the opponent," he said, honest as always.

The opposing team selected their fighter, a senior known across campus for raw strength. Ivy, watching from the sidelines, immediately looked panicked.

"Astrid, don’t pick Xander."

He looked offended. "Why not?"

"Because you look like the type to get yourself injured just to prove a point."

I considered it, then chose him anyway.

"Excellent decision," Xander said, pleased.

"You’re sure?" Reed asked.

"Yes."

I’d watched Xander fight enough by now to know his unpredictability was exactly the kind of thing a strength-based opponent wouldn’t know how to counter.

The match began, and true to form, Xander started out playing, dodging rather than attacking, letting the bigger student swing at empty air.

"He’s waiting," Reed murmured beside me.

"For what?"

"A mistake."

It came eventually, the opponent’s frustration boiling over into a reckless charge, and Xander used the momentum against him cleanly, sending him to the ground in one smooth motion. The crowd erupted.

Xander looked toward me first. Not Reed.

I smiled. He mouthed, Told you.

Something warm settled in my chest at that.

When he made his way back to us, I noticed a scrape along his forearm. "You’re bleeding."

He glanced down, unbothered. "Barely."

I reached for his wrist without thinking, examining the cut. He went quiet in a way that wasn’t like him at all, and I realized just how close we were standing.

I let go. "You should clean that."

"You worried about me?"

"No."

"You touched me."

"You were bleeding."

"Still counts."

I rolled my eyes, though I was fairly sure my face had gone red. Reed watched the whole exchange without a word.

The opposing team selected their strongest strategist next, and Reed volunteered without hesitation. Watching him prepare was like watching a completely different person emerge, no jokes, no smile, just quiet, total focus, like he’d already run through every possible version of the match in his head before stepping into the ring.

The fight itself was economical, precise, nothing wasted. He won with barely any visible effort.

"That was impressive," I said when he returned.

"You sound surprised."

"I knew you were good." I paused. "I didn’t know you were that good."

A faint smile crossed his face. "I’ll take that."

Standing there, I noticed the difference between them clearly for the first time. Xander made me laugh, made everything lighter, easier to bear. Reed made me feel like I could actually trust my own judgment. I didn’t try to frame either feeling as anything more than that.

I just noticed it.

The instructor announced the final portion would involve all three of us together, an obstacle course requiring genuine coordination.

"Finally," I said.

"Finally?" Xander asked.

"I want to see whether you two can follow instructions."

He looked at Reed. "She thinks she’s in charge."

"Let her lead," Reed said.

Xander looked genuinely shocked. "Seriously?"

"She’s been right so far."

I hadn’t expected that, but I didn’t waste the opening. I studied the course as we approached, noticing patterns in how the obstacles were spaced, timed to catch teams who rushed without thinking.

"Reed, left," I said. "Xander, wait."

They listened. Both of them, without argument, which felt like its own small miracle.

At one point Xander started improvising anyway, breaking off toward a shortcut that hadn’t been part of the plan.

"Xander!"

He stopped. "What?"

"I said wait."

"I had an idea."

"Your ideas are why we almost fell off a cliff yesterday."

"She’s right," Reed said quietly.

Xander sighed. "Fine."

I smiled, watching us actually start to move like a real team instead of three people who happened to share a name on a scoreboard.

We reached the final obstacle near the end, a structure requiring one person to climb while the other two held it steady. I volunteered without a second thought.

"I’ll go," Reed said immediately.

"You’re heavier," I pointed out.

"She’s calling you fat," Xander said.

Reed shot him a look. I laughed and started climbing anyway.

Halfway up, the structure shifted beneath me, and both of them tightened their grip instantly.

"Astrid!"

I steadied myself, breath catching, and kept going until I reached the top and pulled the marker free.

The bell rang out. We’d completed it.

Back at the checkpoint, the instructor praised our coordination, our final score significantly higher than I’d expected. I looked between Reed and Xander, and for the first time since arriving at Moonshade, I didn’t feel tolerated. I felt...happy. Real joy.

Nobody was watching me the way they used to, waiting for me to fail, waiting for the scholarship girl to prove she didn’t belong.

I felt like I belonged with them.

Xander threw an arm around my shoulders. "We’re actually good together."

"Don’t get used to it," I said.

"He’s right," Reed said.

I turned toward him, surprised. "You agree?"

"We’re a good team."

It was simple. It still meant something.

As we left the arena, Xander bumped my shoulder. "Admit it."

"Admit what?"

"You had fun."

I tried to deny it, then gave up and smiled instead. "Maybe."

He grinned, satisfied, and Reed walked quietly beside us both.

For a brief stretch of time, I forgot about rankings, gossip, the King, and everything else I’d been running from since the night I’d fled the city.

I was simply walking between two people who had somehow, without my permission, become important to me.

I had no idea yet how dangerous that realization would eventually become.