Chapter 49: Aren’s Offer
The notification ping was soft but insistent, dragging Orion from the threshold of sleep. A flickering window pulsed against the corner of his wrist-com.
He groaned, swiping it open, expecting a ranking update or maybe a call from his sister. Instead, a multi-window projection bloomed into view, illuminating his dim quarters in soft blue light.
Isolde's face took up the central pane, framed by the outlines of other active feeds — Juno reclined against a chair, Felix in a training room still coated in sweat, and Darius pacing somewhere that looked like the academy dorm.
"What is this about?" Orion mumbled, raking a hand through his hair. "I thought we weren't doing live calls unless someone died."
"Someone did. About sixty of them," Juno said.
"That was epic," Felix said, his tone somewhere between amused and impressed.
Isolde pulled up a few screens without looking at him. "We're expanding," she said.
Orion blinked. "Why the rush?" he asked, more curious than concerned.
"You've become a symbol," Isolde said, turning the display his way. "Might as well use it."
"Hold on—" Orion leaned forward as his own name filled the center, followed by a scrolling list of applications. His eyes narrowed as two names jumped out at him.
Ingrid Reyes, and right beneath her — Leonidas Lunev.