She hated it, honestly—forcing everyone away from her. But she knew what the alternative was; she learned that the hard way.

Virse’s talents were clear early in her life. Tris had his eye on her from that moment onward, and every other one of his wards knew that. They didn’t dare approach her, either out of jealousy of her talents or fear of Tris’s punishments for “distracting” her.

Then Lillena sat with her as they ate, played with her when she wasn’t busy—even though they both knew full well what, hypothetically, might happen to them. It was something that showed that Tris was only as attentive as he needed to be; he’d barely noticed them spending time with each other, at first, even if they only half-tried to hide the fact.

One day, Lillena rushed up to her with an excited smile. “Virse! Guess what! Guess what!”

“What is it?” Virse gave a small smile, too, but she was a little more focused on hiding the bruise on her arm. She didn’t want to have to explain it.

“There’s something I want to show you, come on!”

“I need a minute to clean up here.”

“It’ll only take a minute! Can you do it later?”

“Tris won’t be happy if he sees all of this…”

Lillena huffed. “Fine! Where does all of it go?”

“I can do it myself. I don’t want you to accidentally get hurt.”

All of these were training supplies, after all; Virse knew that they could be dangerous if they weren’t handled right. Lillena didn’t seem too satisfied with that answer, but she didn’t push the topic any further, and patiently waited until Virse was all done.

Lillena had sat down on top of the stone fence while she waited but, realizing it was time, immediately slid down. “Are you ready now?”

“I think so.” Virse nodded and gave one last look around the area. It was like she’d never been out here to begin with. “What do you want to show me..?”

“It’s outside! Or at least a little. I didn’t want any of the others to get into it, so I hid it! Follow me, I’ll show you where it is!”

Then Lillena took her hand and started gently guiding her just off the property. She knelt down at the row of trees before the train tracks, then dug around a tree’s base until she found a little bag.

“One of my friends from work showed me how to make these! So as soon as I saved up the money for the materials, I made two! Look!” She pulled out two matching bracelets and handed one to Virse. “One for you and one for me! They’re a little big now, but my friend said that we’d grow into them that way.”

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Virse hated—now and then—that she hesitated. “Really? These are for us..?”

“Yeah! So? Do you like them?”

“Of course. I’ll always keep it with me.”

Tris wasn’t nearly as happy when he found out, though. But that was the thing about him—he’d mastered the art of tranquil fury; how to do what made things go his way without drawing too much attention to himself.

She tried not to think about it; the things he did, the words he said, and the threats he gave. But she knew his message well.

Lillena was nothing more than a distraction to Virse’s budding talents… and all distractions needed to be taken care of, one way or another.

Somehow, Tris threatening that things could get worse if she failed to cooperate was actually a reassurance. It meant that Lillena was still out there somewhere—that things really could get worse, so she should be grateful that this was the only thing that happened.

Because he was never a man of empty threats. He meant every word he said.

…

“And it looks like we’ve got a record case on our hands!” one of the announcers declared. “Everyone give a round of applause to Virse! That kid’s on fire!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd when she passed the finish line, panting. One of the teachers came over to offer her some water and she gladly accepted.

“Didn’t think you had it in you,” he remarked. “I’ve been teaching here for a while and I’ve never known someone to solo that. I’d thought it would be impossible without a team…”

“I suppose that just shows that you shouldn’t underestimate me,” she said. She didn’t want the attention, but she didn’t want reporters swarming her later either, so she made sure she was loud enough for them to hear her, too. “I’ve been practicing a lot for this.”

“That doesn’t say anything about why you decided to solo it, though. I saw Carona and some of her friends approach you before, but you denied the offer.”

“I just work better when there’s no distractions.”

A reporter walked up to them. “Virse, you’re the youngest member of the Knight’s Academy, right? Can I ask a few questions, and may my colleague here snap a few photos?”

Virse instinctively glanced over to where Tris was watching. He might not have been able to hear the conversation—the crowd was clapping for another group now—but he seemed to know what was happening. He grinned and nodded.

“Alright,” she told the reporter. “What is it..?”

As she gave half-answers to the reporter, she happened to notice two things.

The first was the looks that Carona, Kostok, and the others that had been in their group gave her. At first, they must’ve just thought her strange for denying their offer. Now, they must think her a complete outcast. Just like back with Tris, they were beginning to acknowledge what she could do. Even Virse herself hated to understand that they were on different levels; that her natural talents already succeeded those of most of her older peers. She just hoped that it meant they’d start to leave her alone.

The second thing she noticed, well… that brought a little less mixed feelings.

She’d looked up once at a whim, to where some of the richer nobles—or at least, the ones with guards—had been seated.

And sitting there, seemingly taking notes, was King Tibrel. Queen Talaya sat on one side of him and Prince Rayluin sat on the other. All three of their gazes seemed to be firmly planted on Virse.