Chapter 318: People Holly Thinks Shouldn’t Train Her
Holly swallowed.
The silence in the office pressed down on her, thick and uncomfortable, and for the first ti since she walked in, she looked uncertain. Her gaze flicked from Orion to the floor and back again, fingers twisting together.
"Perhaps..." she said slowly, carefully, "perhaps I may have done that unknowingly. But it’s not like I ant to—"
Orion groaned in pain. Since Holly ca in, she had been spewing lies continuously, and the sound in his ears was getting intense. The uncomfortable feeling he had to battle with every ti a person lied was becoming persistent because of her lies.
Holly knew that he couldn’t stand lies. That he had a physical reaction to them. She knew how much lies affected him, yet she was doing it without a care in the world, like it didn’t matter. It annoyed him—a lot.
"Shut the fuck up, Holly," he gritted out.
The command was sharp, and Holly knew that if she spoke again, she wouldn’t like the consequences, so she kept quiet imdiately.
The room seed to hold its breath. Even Garrett could feel how chilled the room was, and it had nothing to do with the snow falling outside.
Orion leaned back in his chair, one hand pressing briefly to his forehead before dropping back to the desk. When he looked at her again, his eyes were hard, his patience worn thin to the bone.
"I am going to ask you this one last ti," he said through gritted teeth. "And you will answer properly. Or you can kiss your days at the training grounds goodbye, because from what I can see, it seems you do not value your training, right?"
Holly’s throat bobbed as she swallowed again.
"I value my training," she said calmly.
Orion ignored her and instead repeated the question, slower this ti, each word deliberate.
"Did you belittle Nia because you believed she had no right to correct you?"
Holly hesitated. She hated that she was being questioned over sothing she considered insignificant. Then she gave a small nod.
Orion nodded too, once, as if confirming sothing he already knew.
"Good," he said quietly. "Now we’re finally being honest."
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. The calm in his tone was far more unsettling than anger.
"Next question," he continued. "Did you have any intention of attacking Nia because you believed she had no right to teach you?"
Holly’s lips pressed into a thin line.
The confidence she’d walked in with was gone now—completely stripped away. In its place was irritation, discomfort, and sothing dangerously close to resentnt.
"I don’t believe Nia should have been teaching ," she said stiffly. "She’s one of the oldest trainees here, and she hasn’t even passed the placent test. Soone like that shouldn’t be correcting . She has no authority over ."
The words landed heavy.
Nia stiffened beside Laia, her jaw tightening, but she didn’t speak.
Orion tilted his head slightly, studying Holly the way one might study a crack forming in stone.
Before he could respond, Garron spoke.
"May I ask sothing?" he said, glancing at Orion for permission.
Orion nodded once. "Go ahead."
Garron turned his attention fully to Holly. "Laia is also one of the older trainees, is she not?"
Holly nodded, wary.
"And Micah?" Garron continued.
"Yes."
"Jeremiah?" Garron gestured slightly with his chin.
Jeremiah was an archer and also one of the oldest trainees in the pack. After Micah, he was the second oldest.
Holly sighed. "Yes."
He went on, listing nas calmly—faces Holly clearly recognized. Each ti, she nodded, growing more irritated with every answer.
"And yourself?" Garron asked at last.
"What?" she asked him.
"Do you not consider yourself one of the oldest trainees?" Garron asked.
She scoffed. "I’ve only been training for about two years. How does that make an old trainee?"
Garron just gave her a look.
"What are you looking at for?" she asked, anger bubbling up her throat. "Laia, Nia, Micah, Jeremiah, and so others have been training for over four years—so even five. Compared to them, I’m still new. Most people pass their placent test after two years of training."
Garron frowned. "And you believe that gives you the right to belittle them?"
Holly shrugged, lifting her chin. "I believe I’m a better fighter than they are."
The words echoed in the room, ugly in their certainty. Orion sighed because she was speaking the truth—she believed it deep in her bones.
Garron closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head in quiet disappointnt.
"Let ask you sothing else," he said. "If Joren had been the one assigned to train you, would you have listened and not threatened him?"
Holly made a face. "Why would Joren teach ? He only just started learning himself. Compared to the others, he’s still a baby."
Joren’s brows lifted slightly, but he stayed silent.
"And if it had been ?" Garron asked. "If I were the one correcting you—would you have behaved differently?"
Holly didn’t answer.
She simply looked at him.
The silence stretched, loud and telling.
Garron turned back to Orion then, his expression grim. "I’m done," he said quietly.
Orion didn’t respond right away.
He looked at Holly—really looked at her now. Not as soone he once cared about. Not as a past mistake. Just as she was in this mont.
Arrogant and very disrespectful.
"Let ask you this," Orion said to her. "You said the others have not passed their placent test, right?"
Holly nodded. She had no idea where Orion was going with the question, but she was sure she wasn’t going to like it. The hairs on her arms stood on end.
"Did you forget that you have also not passed the placent test?" he said. "If you had, you wouldn’t even be considered a trainee."
Holly looked at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words ca out. She had not been expecting him to say that.
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