2026-02-19 00:34:00
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Chapter 236
"Selected by the elders of this nation. There were protocols. Records. Things that were discussed and decided long before you were even born."She watched his face as the words sank in. Watching the confusion give way to something sharper. "So you know.” Jabber said slowly."Yeah." Rita nodded. "I know."Another silence. This one is shorter than the last.Jabber's jaw tightened. "Then why didn't you TELL me?"The question came out harder than he probably intended. Frustrated. Hurt, underneath the frustration.Rita didn't flinch from it. She just held his gaze, steady and unflinching."Because we were all told not to." She said quietly.Jabber stared at her. His mouth opened. Closed.Then his eyes narrowed. Something clicked behind them,a connection being made, a pattern being recognized."Let me guess." His voice was flat. "The elders."Rita held his gaze for a long beat. Then she nodded, once."Yes."The word sat between them. Simple. Heavy.Jabber's hands had curled into fi
Chapter 235
The implication hung in the air between them.Jabber's brow furrowed. Then his eyes widened slightly as the pieces clicked into place."The letters." His voice came out barely above a whisper. "The ones I got. From you and dad."Rita nodded once. Slow."I wrote those letters, Jabber. Every single one. But by the time they reached you..." She swallowed. "His second wife would get to them first. Open them. Read them."Her hands curled into fists in her lap."And then she'd rewrite them. Change what I'd said. Put in things I never wrote. Things about your father. About me leaving. About…" Rita's voice caught, just for a second, before she forced it back under control. "About you being a burden. About how we were better off without you."The words hit the air and stayed there.Jabber didn't move. Didn't breathe. Just sat completely, utterly still, like someone had pressed pause on him.Then his hands moved.They curled into fists. Slowly. Deliberately. The knuckles went white as the
Chapter 234 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
The door clicked shut behind them and the noise of the corridor disappeared completely.The room was small. Smaller than Rita remembered dorm rooms being, though maybe that was just because she'd been imagining it bigger in her head for the past year. Two bunk beds, one against each wall. A shared desk wedged into the corner beneath a narrow window. A few clothes hanging from hooks on the back of the door. Two pairs of boots on the floor, side by side,one larger, one smaller.Jabber's and Asta's.Rita's gaze lingered on the smaller pair for just a second before she turned away.Jabber stood near the door for a moment after it closed, one hand still on the handle. Like he wasn't quite sure what to do now that they were actually alone. The easy confidence he carried around his squad,the casual, slightly cocky way he moved through the world,had drained away completely. In its place was something younger. Something unsure.Rita moved first. She walked over to the lower bunk on the left,J
Chapter 233
General Rita looked at all of them,at the four young people laughing and talking about her old friend, at her son walking among them with something approaching ease on his face and her expression settled into something quiet. Content.She'd missed this, maybe. This feeling. Being around people who made the world feel a little lighter just by existing in it.The dorms came into view ahead of them.A long building of warm sandstone and dark wood, tucked against the edge of the academy grounds where old trees cast long shadows across the pathways. The afternoon light caught the upper windows and turned them gold.Jabber's pace slowed as they approached. Something in his posture changed,his shoulders pulled in slightly, the ease from the conversation draining away. Asta noticed it immediately. The way Jabber always did when they got close to their room. Like the dorm was a place where real life started again, and everything outside it was just... delayed.They stopped in front of a door o
Chapter 232
He trailed off, not quite sure how to finish the question without it sounding disrespectful.Rita's expression answered before her words did."Kid." She said simply. "Your mother was terrifying."The word landed with weight. Not hyperbole,statement of fact."She was fast. Faster than anyone else in our year, probably faster than half the people a year above us. But that wasn't even the thing that made her scared." Rita held up a finger. "The thing that made her scared was how she saw fights.""Saw them how?" Flora had moved closer, her curiosity clearly getting the better of her."Like a game." Rita said. "A game she'd already figured out the rules to while everyone else was still trying to learn them." She waved her hand vaguely, trying to find the right words. "She'd look at an opponent and just... know. Know what they were going to do before they did it. Know where the weak points are. Know exactly how to take advantage of every single opening."She shook her head, a small
Chapter 231
They kept walking. The corridor opened up into one of the academy's wider hallways, the kind that connected the main buildings to each other. Tall windows lined one side, letting in thick slabs of warm light that fell across the stone floor in golden rectangles.General Rita fell into step beside Asta without making it obvious. Just kind of drifted over, like it was an accident of positioning rather than something deliberate. Jabber was a few paces ahead now, his sisters pulling him into some kind of quiet argument about something Asta couldn't quite hear.The silence between Rita and Asta lasted about ten seconds."So." Rita said, her voice easy. Relaxed. Like they were old friends picking up a conversation they'd left off somewhere. "You want to know about your mum."It wasn't really a question.Asta turned to look at her. "Yeah." He said. "I do. You said you guys were squadmates?"Rita nodded, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "Squadmates. For two years. Spent
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