Valmont Series - Inheritance Code

Chapter 8.2 - The Unranked Sovereign

"Like I fractured some unspoken law—one I never even knew existed."

She exhaled, jaw tight.

"I wasn't trying to disrupt anything. I just wanted to find a way to survive in a world that already decided what doesn't belong."

She didn't expect a reply. Not from him.

But after a beat, Cassian's gaze lifted—slow, unreadable.

"They're trying to categorize you."

His tone wasn't sharp. Just exact.

"Valmont's students are calibrated for pattern. Predictability."

A breath.

"Even disruptions here has a place—if it fits the pattern."

"You didn't."

She blinked, quiet for a moment.

"And you?"

Her voice didn't waver. But something in it yielded—

"Have you figured out where I fit?"

Cassian doesn't answer. Not right away. Just watches her—like he already has.

Not cold.

Not curious.

Just... clear.

Like someone who'd already run the numbers—and decided they didn't matter.

"I don't categorize people."

A beat.

"I notice."

Another breath passed—

Measured. Quiet.

The kind of pause that said he'd already seen the end of the pattern.

And somehow, that was worse than judgment.

"I don't even know why any of this is happening," she whispered.

"A week ago, I had a life. Normal. Familiar. I thought I knew who I was. And now—"

She paused.

The words thinned—less spoken, more exhaled.

"Now I'm not sure I ever did."

Cassian didn't shift.

"This place doesn't know what you are," he said—

voice like glass under pressure—

fragile only in tone, not in weight.

"That's why it's adapting."

He turned, posture angled in departure—

then stilled again.

"It's not the first time."

Low. Almost incidental.

But the kind of sentence that lived longer than it sounded.

Before she could speak—

before thought could even form—

he turned.

His coat brushed the mirrored leaves,

silent as breath.

And then—he stepped into the distortion veil

at the garden's edge.

She froze.

Just long enough to realize

he wasn't waiting.

Aria stared after him,

blinking away the last tear she hadn't realized was still falling.

Then she moved.

"Wait—"

She stepped forward, too fast.

The garden shimmered, but the path was empty.

No signal. No trace. Nothing to follow.

He'd disappeared as quietly as he arrived.

Like the system didn't just allow it.

It expected it.

As if he hadn't just spoken—but left a riddle in his place.

She turned back toward the edge of the Mirror Garden.

And as soon as she crossed the AVNX threshold—

her ONYX bracelet pulsed.

Prestige Link: Confirmed

[Origin: DANTES, C.]

[Recipient: LANCASTER, A.]

[Tier: Redacted – Zeroth Protocol]

[Status: Permanent. Irreversible.]

[Visibility: Hidden]

Aria stared.

Not at the flash—

but at what it meant.

No prompt. No request. No confirmation screen.

Just... active.

A link, executed without approval.

Even Sovereign-tier students couldn't do that.

And yet—

And Cassian Dantes had done it without a word.

Without hesitation.

As if the system hadn't resisted him at all.

As if... it had recognized her too.

Next: Status Reconnected — The system went quiet. Then it started pinging.