Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 933: Nepo Baby

The afternoon lull found the tent quieter, the line shorter, the sun slanting long across the scaffolding, and Alexandra Seren crossing the site from the main building with a tray of fresh lemonade.

”Alice is...” She set the tray down in front of the panel and searched for a diplomatic construction. ”Far too much.”

”What’d the little sis do this time?” Luna asked, already claiming a glass.

”Agatha tested forty kitchen candidates today. She is thorough and wonderful and I adore her.” Alexandra sank into the spare chair for exactly four seconds of rest. ”Alice, on the other hand, gave herself a clipboard.”

”Oh no,” Luna said.

”She has no authority whatsoever. Agatha is the judge. Alice is just... there. Hovering. With a clipboard and a pen, taking her own notes.” Alexandra rubbed her temple. ”One woman ran a three-star kitchen, and Alice leaned over Agatha’s shoulder and asked her, and I quote, ’yes, but can you plate a waffle so my big brother smiles on a bad day.’ When the poor woman said ’pardon?’, Alice wrote a minus on her clipboard. Which is not connected to anything. It’s just a clipboard.”

But she was smiling as she said it, tired and fond in the same breath.

When she rose to pour for the rest of the panel, she paused behind Kaiden’s chair, glanced once toward the flap to confirm the next candidate was out of sight, and snuck her arms around him from behind. One quick squeeze, there and gone, entirely against proper maid protocol.

”Two of today’s candidates were wonderful, by the way,” she reported, straightening as if nothing had happened. ”Agatha approved them both. Alice also approved them, which means nothing, but she was very serious about it.”

”Thank you.” Kaiden caught her wrist lightly before she could retreat to her tray. ”For being such a good friend to her.”

Alexandra looked down at him, at the man whose family had picked her up out of the wreckage of her old life and handed her a home, a bond, and a title she hadn’t finished believing. She smiled the way she only smiled when nobody was filming.

”Kai...” She shook her head slowly. ”In this house, I’m the only one who should be expressing gratitude.”

Then she was a proper maid again, tray up, spine straight, and she stayed to run refreshments for the candidates, because of course she did.

”Next!” Luna called.

The last stretch of the afternoon brought in Vanessa Sloan.

On paper, she was one of the best things the day had produced. A-tier striker, top of her batch, one of perhaps a dozen people in the entire exam who had traded blows with Calypso and walked away under their own power. Luna had starred her name on the roster personally.

And for ten minutes, Vanessa Sloan interviewed like the star. Clean answers, real gate knowledge, smart questions asked back. She kept her compliments to herself, kept her eyes level, and met Kaiden’s gaze without wobbling, which put her ahead of half the day on composure alone.

Then Alexandra, who had been refilling glasses down the table, set her tray aside and pulled up the spare chair beside the panel.

She did this because the candidate interested her, ready to ask a question of her own. She was Eclipse’s Hearth Valkyrie, Z-tier, and the woman who might be the one healing these people if they got hurt. Her opinion on who she’d be protecting was worth hearing.

”Miss Sloan.” Alexandra smiled at her, warm and genuine. ”Your file mentions you’ve worked in mixed squads before. I’m curious how you’d handle it when a teammate makes a call you disagree with mid-gate.”

Vanessa’s eyes moved from Kaiden to the blonde in the maid outfit, and the polite interest behind them cooled. She answered anyway, smooth and practiced. ”I voice it once, clearly. If command overrides, I follow.”

Alexandra considered that for a moment, head tilted slightly, then leaned forward. ”And if the person making the call is weaker than you?”

The silence that followed was a different species than the comfortable pauses Vanessa had been handling all interview long. Her smile stayed, but the warmth behind it went sharp.

”With all due respect.” Vanessa recrossed her legs and turned to the panel, her smile perfect, composed. ”This is a combat readiness interview. I came here to discuss tactics and gate performance with Eclipse’s combat leadership.” She glanced at Alexandra the way one glances at a waiter who has seated himself at the table. ”I didn’t prepare to have my tactical answers evaluated by the lemonade girl.”

”The Hearth Valkyrie,” Kira corrected from the end of the table, mild.

Vanessa acknowledged that with a patient nod, the kind adults give children who have said something sweet. ”I’m sure the title is very meaningful to Miss Seren. But I’ve broken this arm five times in gates.” She raised the arm as evidence. ”I’ve spent all ten years of the apocalypse earning the right to sit in this chair. Every person in that line outside has a story like mine. And we came here to be interviewed by fighters we respect, not to have our combat judgment probed by someone who learned how to cast a spell yesterday.”

She turned to Kaiden, and the mask hadn’t cracked, reasonable, doing its job. ”I get it, you like her. You can give her anything you want, such is the power of nepotism. But putting her on the panel to ask me follow-up questions about how I handle command decisions?” A small, regretful shrug. ”That’s nepotism gone wrong, Mister Grey. It’s an insult to every serious candidate sitting outside.”

The tent had gone very quiet. At the end of the table, the twins’ camera light burned red.

Alexandra’s hands had folded in her lap, her eyes on her own fingers, where golden light had lived for less than a week and still felt borrowed. The ugly thing about Vanessa Sloan’s argument was that it had bones in it.

Her smile reported for duty anyway. ”I understand your perspective, Miss Sloan.”

”I appreciate that.” Vanessa’s tone warmed, generous now that the maid had conceded. She turned back to Kaiden and opened her hands toward the roster, smooth to the last. ”So. Shall we continue with the actual interview? I believe we were on squad preferences.”

”No.” Alexandra said it quietly, her hands turning into clenched fists, and Vanessa’s head turned back to her. ”I meant I understand your perspective. I didn’t say I was done.”

Something behind Vanessa’s eyes went very still.

”I asked you a question about command dynamics, and your answer was rehearsed. I asked a follow-up, and you didn’t answer it at all.” Alexandra met her gaze, steady and gentle and completely immovable. ”If you’d like to try again, I’m still listening.”

The professional mask cracked down the center, and what lived underneath it was not professional at all.

”Fine.” Vanessa stood from the chair with controlled grace. She’d been picturing this for several minutes. ”You want to evaluate me? I’ll give you something to evaluate.”

Killing intent rolled across the table, all of it, aimed, trained, gate-tempered, packed into a single wave directed at the blonde.

Alexandra looked at her.

*Blink*