Chapter 84: Report to WHA

Victoria’s gaze shifted toward the entrance hall.

"Look who’s coming."

Everyone at the dining table stopped mid-motion and turned.

Roxanna walked in from the front corridor, still in the same clothes from the night before, hair tied back, posture tired but steady.

The moment she appeared, the heavy quiet of breakfast broke.

Sana raised an eyebrow.

"You didn’t go to WHA headquarters?"

Roxanna shook her head and pulled out a chair only after Evelyn gestured toward an empty seat.

"They called both of us," she said. "Me and Daemon. Why would I go alone? I came to pick him up."

Evelyn’s expression softened a fraction.

"Then sit. Eat first."

Roxanna joined them without argument. Food was already on the table, and for a few minutes the estate almost felt normal again.

Almost. The clink of utensils and low morning light made the previous night’s burning streets feel farther away than they were.

No one rushed her. After the kind of healing she had done in the open city, even sitting down looked like an effort she refused to show fully.

Once she had taken a few bites, Roxanna looked across at Daemon.

"How is Kassia?"

"She’s fine," Daemon said. "She still hasn’t woken up properly after everything, but she’s stable."

He set his cup down.

"After Roxanna and I report to WHA, I’ll tell all of you something important about her. It matters. But not before we finish there."

No one pressed him.

They all understood enough from the night before to wait. Victoria’s eyes lingered on him for a second longer than the others, but she did not ask.

Sana only leaned back in her chair with a quiet breath, clearly saving her questions for later.

Through the whole exchange, Calista remained silent at the side of the room. She did not cut into the conversation.

She did not step into Daemon’s path. Daemon also did not call attention to her. For now, both of them left that strange distance untouched, as if the dining hall was not the place for whatever stood between them.

When the meal wound down, Daemon stood.

"We’re going."

Evelyn nodded once.

"Go. I’ll take care of Kassia here."

Victoria and Sana did not argue about joining them. Both still carried the weight of the previous night’s fighting and rescue work.

Rest came first, and neither of them looked ready for another public confrontation before sleep.

Daemon took Victoria’s car. Roxanna sat in the passenger seat as they pulled away from the Hale estate and headed toward WHA headquarters.

Neither of them spoke much on the road. The city outside still showed scars from the dragon flight cracked glass, blocked lanes, emergency crews moving through damaged blocks.

After the qualification test, they had never properly reported in. No regular gate assignments. No official follow-up.

Now they were driving straight into the guild master’s office after a city-level emergency and months of silence.

By the time the headquarters building came into view, both of them were tense.

The moment they entered the main hall, work around them slowed.

Hunters stopped mid-conversation. Staff looked up from terminals. A pair of junior clerks near the reception desk forgot the files in their hands.

The attention landed hardest on Roxanna.

After last night, her name had spread fast.

Drones and street cameras had caught her healing through the wreckage without pause, pulling injured civilians back from the edge one after another.

Some hunters were already calling her recovery work beyond normal S-Rank range.

A few younger men near the mission board even started forward as if they wanted to speak to her, curiosity and interest written too openly on their faces.

Then Daemon took her hand.

Publicly. Clearly. Without hesitation. ℯℯ𝑙.

The approachers froze.

Everyone in the hall knew he was Victoria Hale’s husband.

Seeing him walk through WHA headquarters holding another woman’s hand sent confusion rippling through the room.

No one was bold enough to ask directly. They only stared as Daemon and Roxanna continued toward the upper offices, fingers linked like the staring did not matter.

At the guild master’s door, Roxanna knocked once.

"Come in."

They entered.

Rosalind was at her desk with a stack of reports open, but she looked up immediately and smiled with sharp amusement.

"Well," she said. "Look who finally decided to show up for work. Unbelievable. Half the hunters in this building would kill for elite-team placement.

You two qualified, then vanished. That is a first."

Daemon and Roxanna both lowered their heads slightly.

"We’re sorry," Daemon said. "From now on, we’ll do the job properly."

Rosalind leaned back in her chair and studied them for a long second, fingers tapping once against the desk.

"I was going to terminate both of you," she said bluntly. "No report. No gate attendance. No communication. That is more than enough reason.

" Her eyes moved to Roxanna. "But after last night, especially what you did in the open streets, I’m setting that aside. For now."

Roxanna exhaled quietly.

"If you work regularly and report to me like every other hunter under this roof," Rosalind continued, "I’ll leave the matter closed.

Also, both of you are going straight to rank assessment.

I want your current bloodline readings and rank stage updated today. No delays. After everything that happened in Ashford, I need accurate numbers, not old files."

Daemon nodded.

Before she could stand, he asked the question that had been sitting under his ribs since the secret dimension collapsed.

"What about Apex Guild Master Leonard Valen? And the researcher, Dr. Adrian? Did you find them?"

Rosalind’s expression hardened.

"Not yet. But we will. WHA already has search units on every route connected to Apex’s private channels. They won’t stay hidden forever."

Daemon’s hands curled at his sides.

He believed that.

And when those two men were found, he had no intention of letting them walk away clean.

Eight months of what they had done to Kassia was not something he planned to forgive. The cage. The experiments. The forced transformation.

If WHA needed him on that hunt, he would join it without hesitation.

"If you need my help on that mission," he said, "I’ll take it."

Rosalind watched him for a moment, then gave a short nod.

"We’ll see. Before any of that, I want your current ranks. Both of you. Come with me."

She stood, gathered a thin file from the desk, and walked toward the door.

Daemon and Roxanna followed her out of the office and down the corridor toward the rank assessment section.

Behind them, the headquarters was still full of stares and low voices, but neither of them looked back.