The assignment wasn't random.

Soren announced it with the same flat, unhurried delivery he used for everything, like pairing the academy's golden boy with the suspicious Alpha male who happens to be his roommate.

Nobody in the room believed it. I could feel the weight of the stares from the moment he said our names.

Cassian crossed the room and set his materials on the table across from me without a word.

I looked at him. He looked at the worksheet.

"Counter-marking technique," he said. ...