"Fuck," Valya exclaimed as she fell to the mat for the second time that day. Her shoulder stung with the impact, already tight from putting in overtime in her training. "Can you help me up here?"

The hand of Josiah Hollis reached down to help her up. He had helped to train her when she was younger, but recently Valya had fallen behind the other Cadets and had asked to train in secret. "You're thinking too much about the end result, not how to get there."

"Yeah, yeah, the journey, not the destination." Valya brushed herself off. "It'd help if I didn't eat mat every time you blocked me."

Josiah shrugged. "You told me not to go easy on you."

Valya blew a piece of hair out of her face, her fists at the ready. "Let's go."

Valentina Belikova, or Valya as she was called by most, was twenty-three years old and the spitting image of her mother. She was tall, with long brown hair that glistened gold in the sunlight and tanned skin that had become pale from years of living within Corinth's walls. The only notable distinction was her eyes; whilst Rose's were brown, Valya had bright blue eyes, like pieces of glittering ice.

She captured the same spirit of her mother as well: the uncaged fury that was Rose Hathaway displaced into a younger body. When Valya was born, the community of Corinth knew that she would become a fierce warrior just like her mother, but Valya's ability was lesser than that of both her mother and her father. She appeared to have the drive but she lacked skill, so Valya decided to train twice as hard as she had been.

Even if she fell on her ass every time she stepped up to spar.

"Now try to land a kick on my arm," Josiah said, patting his bicep. "I'm going to go for your throat: block me."

Valya nodded, determination in her eyes. She saw Josiah's arm reach out and she twisted, her leg coming up to meet his forearm, but she'd done it too quickly and he grabbed her leg instead, flipping her onto the mat.

"No," Valya let out the word in a miserable breath. "I'm too skinny; my muscle just isn't there. Why can't we eat more meat in this place?"

Josiah held out his hand for her to grab. "Veggies are less expensive. Besides, you're just using excuses now and that doesn't sound like the kid I know. Let's do it again."

Valya was practically raised by Josiah and his husband, a former Alchemist named Adam. When her mother went on missions or was working, she would spend time at their house rather than the school run by Corinth or the daycare center. She'd come to call Josiah Pops and Adam was Dad, although Rose had told her bedtime stories of her real father.

Dimitri Belikov. He seemed like a dream to Valya, always just outside of her grasp. The more stories Rose told to her, the more she wanted to hear; he was a god of epic proportions. Valya could tell, even though her mother had chosen to raise her in Corinth, she still loved Dimitri very much.

True love like that never dies, Valya thought. She wondered if she would find love like that for herself.

That was ridiculous, of course. Valya had a boyfriend named Sasha, a Moroi boy who had entered Corinth as an orphan at the age of three. He was a skilled Earth wielder who had previously worked in combat, but now helped grow plants in the agricultural sector, a job that was usually reserved for those who didn't go through combat training. They had been friends ever since Sasha had entered her preschool class and she'd latched onto him like a shiny new toy, but sometimes Valya wondered if she was just going with the default. Everything seemed so planned and regimented in her life that even Sasha fit into the perfect puzzle.

Valya didn't feel as fortunate as she should have, but bottling up feelings was the specialty in these parts.

Valya rolled her eyes, but complied with Josiah's command and was up on her feet in seconds. This time she breathed in before attempting the kick and landed it square on Josiah's shoulder. He went down in the blink of an eye.

"Yes!" Valya pumped her fists into the air. "Screw you, two years I spent on security detail. I am back at it!"

She began to dance while Josiah laid on the ground. He looked up at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Are you done?" he asked in a droll tone.

"No way!" Valya pointed at him and shook her hips. "I'm going to do this every time I land a move. It's me reward for deciding to train at two in the morning."

Josiah rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Cadet Belikova."

A voice came from the door to the training gym. It was a member of main command, dressed in the spotless uniform of Corinth: a grey long-sleeved shirt and navy blue cargo trousers. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back.

Valya immediately stopped what she was doing. "Yes?"

"You're wanted on level four," the main command soldier said. "Please come with me at once."

Valya and Josiah exchanged looks and he gestured for her to follow. She went to gather her things and followed the soldier out of the gym.

It was odd to be summoned in the middle of the night, especially since most of Corinth kept to a human timetable and not a vampire one. There was no need to fear the sunlight as a Moroi because the only windows existed on the ground floor level where the greenhouse was kept.

Valya thought it even odder that main command knew where she was outside of normal work hours. She'd completed her patrol shift at midnight and called Josiah to train without the rest of the patrol team knowing. Despite being appointed as a combat Cadet, one step higher than a border or security Cadet, she still felt inferior; as if someone would figure out that she wasn't good at her job at any moment. Her mother didn't even know of the extra training she was putting in, although Valya doubted that she'd care that much. The great Stasla trained almost around the clock these days when she wasn't in meetings.

"So, nice weather today, eh?" Valya said in an attempt to get a conversation going with the soldier they sent for her.

"I wouldn't know," the soldier replied, stony-faced.

They walked in uncomfortable silence.

The fourth level of Corinth, also known as the ominous Level Four, was where main command was held and all major decisions were made for the compound. Any mission, assignment, or new recruit had to report to level four before going anywhere else. Main command was secretive and odd; with work hours going around the clock and stoic foot soldiers that lived in special units towards the main terrace that connected level four to the rest of Corinth via a set of staircases. Valya got shivers when she thought of reporting to main command, even though her mother ran it.

The great General Stasla Belikova, at it again.

It felt strange calling her mother by her title. At home she was just mom, not anything special, but in main command she was everything. She pulled the strings on the whole operation, and that included her daughter.

"Come in, Valya," Rose said. She whizzed around main command with a stack of papers in her hand.

Main command was half offices and half what felt like computer screens. Rows of workers typed away at important missions, a map of the world projected on a large, bare wall. There were small dots pinpointing the locations of agents in the field: red for active missions, blue for undercover ones. Valya spied a few grey dots as well.

Deceased, she thought.

"I said come in," Rose repeated as she passed by Valya once more. She grabbed Valya's arm and brought her towards the end of the room.

Even though years had passed, Rose Hathaway still looked as beautiful as ever. The spark had never died from her eyes and her hair grew effortlessly long. A light smattering of wrinkles that lined her face were the only indication that she'd aged at all. Valya had heard a few people she worked with call her a fox. She'd decked them.

"Mom," Valya wrenched her arm away from Rose. "What's going on?"

"You've been put on the Ural Mountains mission," she said brusquely. Soldiers whirled around them as they entered a conference room towards the back. Unlike traditional office spaces, Corinth didn't have many walls.

"A mission?" Valya's heart leapt. She'd been on a few boring domestic ones around Canada, but never somewhere so far away. It'd been Valya's dream to be able to go Spain, Thailand, Norway, anywhere to dispatch a nest of Strigoi and kick back. "You're shitting me. This is amazing!"

"Okay, who brought the brat in here?" A man appeared at Rose's side and set a duffel bag down on the table with a bang.

"Pollock," Rose said sternly. "Language."

"She's too young for the mission and you know it." Pollock pointed a stern finger at Rose. He was a dhampir of average height, with a full, well-trimmed beard and a shock of auburn hair. Valya couldn't quite place him, but she recognized his face.

"We're taking the twins," Rose added, keeping her tone level. "They're only one year older than her."

Pollock grunted and clenched his jaw, shooting daggers at Valya before he took his seat. Several others joined them around the table, the noise of main command still whirring in the background. Valya felt incredibly out of place.

"Now that we're all here, let's get started," Rose said. She shuffled a few pieces of paper in front of her. "We're joined by Cadet Belikova as combat support. Say hi, everyone."

A chorus of 'hellos' came from the table. Valya shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she half waved at the rest of the team.

"I'm Gin with intel," a woman in her early thirties seated across from Valya said. She had long, black hair twisted into twin braids and skin the colour of sandstone. She grinned, obviously overjoyed to have Valya there.

"Jasper, medic" the boy seated next to him said. He pointed to himself and the girl to his left. They were both twins around Valya's age, with dark hair, bright, wide-set eyes, and strong jawlines. "This is my sister Hershey."

Valya waved to Hershey, who she'd gone through high school with while Jasper was doing his medical training. She didn't know Hershey very well, but knew enough that she rarely said much. She was a tech student and had often been away from classes for training. Hershey gave Valya a small, bashful smile.

"Now that all of the introductions are over, can we get to the briefing?" Pollock said.

"And that neanderthal over there is Pollock, the second-in-command," Rose said. She stared at Pollock down the bridge of her nose. "Don't let him fool you, his bark is worse than his bite."

Pollock scoffed.

Valya knew he felt uncomfortable with her being in the team, even though Valya was sure Rose wouldn't show favouritism towards her at all; if anything she'd be harder on her. It happened like this in everything she did with her mother: Valya had to exceed expectations; meeting them wasn't enough.

"We've received intel from an anonymous source about a series of attacks that are happening in the Ural Mountains," Rose said. She pulled up a map on the projector. There were five dots over a section of the forest. "These indicate attacks that have happened over a six-month period, but it isn't just humans as victims; it's also Strigoi."

"Strigoi?" Gin sounded doubtful.

"Whoever or whatever that's attacking in this stretch of woods," Rose indicated it on the map. "Can kill Strigoi without even touching them. Boom! Just like that: dead."

"Are you sure there's no signs of a struggle? Not even puncture wounds?" Jasper asked. Hershey nudged him. "What? I've heard of Strigoi attacking each other; there might be indications of a bite."

"No bites," Rose shook her head. "The nearby town won't even enter the woods at all. We'll be staying with a family that I've been able to make contact with, but there's a very real possibility that we'll have to make camp at some point. The locals will get suspicious, so I want everyone to be on their best behaviour here."

"That means you." Gin grinned and poked Pollock in the arm. He scowled at her in return.

"This is a delicate mission we're doing here," Rose said. She handed out packets to every member of the group. "At best it will just be reconnaissance, at worst a kill mission. This thing has killed humans as well, so as much as I love that someone is killing Strigoi for us, we have to protect the living too."

Valya looked at her packet with apprehension. It was around twenty pages thick and rather heavy.

"Those are your information packets for the full briefing, which will happen tomorrow," Rose brushed her hands against each other. "You're dismissed. Get some sleep; we'll be leaving in a few days."

Everyone left the room except for Valya, who jumped from her seat. She was excited about the mission at first, but a thought dawned on her: Rose could have taken anyone from the very experienced pool of combat Cadets in Corinth. She didn't need to choose Valya.

"Why am I on this mission?" She asked bluntly.

"Valya, it's late," Rose said. "Your shift was done two hours ago. Go back to the unit and sleep."

"You didn't answer my question," Valya persisted. "Why am I on this mission? This is a high level thing we're doing. Russia? It's way outside of what I'm usually put on."

"I knew you wanted to go on something international, so I picked you for combat," Rose said. "You speak Russian, you're useful."

"But I'm not even that good at combat!" Valya exclaimed. "Did you just put me on this mission out of pity?"

"I thought you wanted to travel, Valentina," Rose said. She used Valya's full name, something she only did when she was irritated. "Take the opportunities you're given."

"I don't want to be on a high level mission just because my mom put me on it!" Valya was incredibly frustrated. "I want to do it on my own ability. God! Sometimes you really do suck, you know that?"

Silence hung in the air between them. Valya immediately regretted what she'd said, but the sentiment still rang true for her. She wanted to be judged by what she could do, not by what her mother could. It was hard being the daughter of a powerful member in Corinth: she was always stuck underneath an enormous shadow.

Rose's expression remained stoic, but her eyes changed from angry to a stifling type of sadness. Valya knew her mother had made an enormous sacrifice by choosing to stay in Corinth rather than return to Court, but there were times when Valya just wanted to be normal. She never felt normal.

"Go to sleep, Valya," Rose said eventually. "We'll talk about this in the morning."

"I-" Valya began.

"I said go to sleep." Her tone was strong. Rose brushed past her. "I have work to do."

Valya's shoulders went slack. She watched her mother go, the papers clutched in one fist.

She might have gotten what she'd wanted, but it wasn't right. Not by a long-shot.

Valya trudged home, most of Corinth quiet at this time of night, but paused right before opening the door to her unit. She and Rose had shared one ever since she'd been born. It was a small family unit with two bedrooms, although the second one was only added when Valya became too big to sleep in her mother's bed. They'd had so much fun decorating their home with pictures, drawings, scrap pieces of paper; anything. It was like a mural to their life together.

Valya didn't dare go inside.

Instead, she turned tail and walked up the flight of stairs that entered the agricultural department: a bright and open space that contained a greenhouse to grow food as well as a small botanical garden for medicine and decoration. It was nighttime, so the Moroi with earth magic were up, tending to the plants that weren't performing correctly and helping out of season vegetables grow. It was there she found Sasha, nestled between two rows of cabbages.

"I hope they're not planning on making more soup with that anytime soon," Valya said in a halfhearted attempt at humour.

Sasha looked up at her with his dark grey eyes and brushed dirt from his hands. "What are you doing here, Valechka?"

A small piece of Valya felt healed after hearing him say one of her nicknames. Mostly everyone called her Valya and her mother called her Valentina, but only Sasha called her Valechka. It felt like a secret code name; something only they shared. Sasha was a constant, calming presence in her life, but recently he'd felt more morose than usual.

Killing a man can do that to you.

Even after his demotion, Sasha stuck by Valya's side. It was an honest sort of love, she thought. They rarely argued and always communicated openly to each other, sometimes too openly. When they were young trainees, the rest of the class nicknamed them PDA King and Queen.

It's too easy. Valya compared her relationship with Sasha to that of her mother. Real love shouldn't be this easy.

"I got a mission," Valya said. "Russia, somewhere in the Ural Mountains."

"Really?" Sasha sounded hopeful. "That's great."

"I even got a personal recommendation from General Belikova herself," she added with a tinge of sarcasm.

Sasha's face fell. He returned to the cabbages. "You take what you can get sometimes, Valechka. Not everything is handed to us on silver platters."

Valya sighed. "I know. I had it out with her after the meeting. She's been acting weird lately, you know? Really closed off; not anything like she was before she took the mission to Pennsylvania."

"I hadn't noticed. I'm not exactly Stasla's number one recruit," Sasha said. His voice had an edge to it.

"She likes you," Valya nudged his shoulder. "She doesn't like the idea of me and you, but she likes you."

"Sure." He paused. "I'm sorry."

Valya raised her eyebrows. "For what?"

"That you fought with your mom. I know that's hard." Sasha sighed. He didn't have any parents in Corinth, and as much as the teaching staff cared for him, there was no one for him to call home. Valya felt lucky: she had three people she considered to be her parents.

"Well, she'll be even better in the morning when I steal all of her coffee and hide it underneath the ugly troll statue Pops got her as a joke last Christmas," Valya said.

Sasha smiled. "Don't do that."

"How else am I going to get back at her?" A mischievous tone crept up in Valya's voice.

"Just stay in my unit," Sasha said. "It'll be better for you and will absolutely torture Stasla."

Valya grinned. "You always have the best ideas."

He hummed, his hand over the cabbage. A few leaves that had wilted sprung back to life; the cabbage seemed more full and green. He stood and brushed the dirt on his hands on his trousers.

"If you're going to hang around me all night, you might want to go grab a stool," Sasha suggested. "I'm working with the cabbages until five."

"Great," Valya rolled her eyes. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, smoothing it down. "I love it when you get down and dirty with the vegetables."

A smile grew on Sasha's face like the plants he carefully looked after. Slowly and with deliberation, he leaned down and pressed his cheek to hers.

"If I'm caught kissing on the job, I might be demoted even further." His whisper made her ear tingle.

Valya weaved her hands through his long locks of hair. "Even further? But I already outrank you, Border Cadet."

Sasha chuckled. He stepped away from her. "Go get that stool or you're sitting in the dirt."

Valya rolled her eyes and made for the storeroom near the entrance of the greenhouse. "You're a very hard man to love, you know that?"

Sasha smiled softly, knowingly. He was good at catching her jokes, but also recognized that there was a kernel of truth to each of them. "I do."

He was a handsome man, towering over the dhampir population but rather average when it came to the other Moroi that lived within Corinth. He had sharp features and dark eyebrows that hung over his eyes like crows. It was a haunting gaze, but his grey eyes were nothing but kind. He had a beard that Valya wished he'd never shave, and occasionally he would come back from work with a bare face. She'd play at being disappointed until he peppered her cheeks with kisses.

Sasha was silent around others and many took this for aloofness, but he was one of the most humble people that Valya knew. When you come from nothing, there is no pedestal to be knocked off of.

Even after four years, Valya was still unsure of what they were to each other. She hesitated to call him her boyfriend or her partner. They weren't serious enough to be married, just two people existing alongside of each other in the endless and unfathomable universe. He was so deliberate in everything he did; recklessness did nothing but bring him strife, so he became quiet and calm. It was intimidating to some, but it complimented Valya perfectly. She felt like the earth beneath her feet was constantly unstable and Sasha being grounded was what brought her back.

She remembered a time when he didn't think before he leapt and how much of a rush that brought her, but they weren't teenagers anymore. Sometimes things changed for the better and sometimes things just changed.

Valya set her stool next to where Sasha crouched in the dirt, watching him carefully.

"Do you ever think we'll both be put on a mission together?" she wondered.

"I think that'd be a dangerous decision," Sasha said.

"Why? We work well together," Valya said.

Sasha chuckled. "You don't get the bigger picture here, Valechka. I would protect you until my dying breath. We'd never finish the mission."

Valya gripped the edge of the stool. "I'm not the one here that needs protecting, Aleksandr."

Sasha paused in his work and looked up at her. He cracked a smile. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Valya bit her lip. "You'd die at the hands of Strigoi and I'd make a beautiful widow. Then I'd be promoted for my valiancy in the line of duty and become the greatest general Corinth has ever seen, overthrow Court, and make myself queen."

"Is that what you want?" Sasha returned to the cabbages. "To be just like your mother?"

Valya hesitated. "Yes. Everyone loves her."

Everyone fears her, she thought to herself.

Sasha could see the thoughts swirling inside Valya's mind and decided it was a pick your battles sort of day. "Whatever you want, Valechka."

They settled into a companionable silence.

After three hours they returned to Sasha's unit, hands covered in rich, dark earth, and collapsed in a heap on his bed. The sun rose and it was another day.