Kanden didn't know what to expect on his first day as an Enforcer but it wasn't sparring. He'd hoped that part of his training could be safely tucked away into the back of his memory banks, but upon joining his first formation with the other recent graduates, he was quickly disappointed.

Scorio, a tall stalk of a man who'd goaded them on their first day in training, took charge that morning and had assigned all the new soldiers to their squads. To Kanden's dismay, while he'd been placed in Scorio's group, Giada had been assigned to Olivine, who scowled.

"Play nice," his father had warned him after the mutiny. "Follow the rules and keep your head down." To Giada, he'd only said, "Don't argue."

Giada's glare was murderous as she stiffly took her place.

The day was awful without his partner in crime. Kanden learned quickly that each squad spent certain time blocks sparring with each other in the morning at the Proving Grounds. The training area was really just a stretch of open space through a rocky cavern with floor to ceiling rock columns at different points in the room. Circles had been scraped into slabs of rock, and of all the installed lights along the walls, only a handful worked with one flickering like a dying candle.

When it came time to select partners, everyone selected each other based on skill or in the newbies' cases, familiarity, leaving Kanden without a buddy now that Giada was in Olivine's group. He wouldn't have dared lay a hand against her anyway, and he wondered if the senior enforcers had played a deliberate hand in their separation. Even worse, he'd been expected to fight anyway, and Scorio had taken it upon himself to work with Kanden directly.

"What are you doing, Calvorite?" This question came after Scorio stepped toward him and Kanden immediately retreated. Everyone paused to stare at them until Scorio snapped, "Back to your business!"

To Kanden, he frowned and lowered his voice. "I understand physical violence is a struggle for you, but we do this to keep our skills sharp and actually defend ourselves."

Father's words to follow the rules played inside Kanden's mind, but he couldn't make himself obey. "I learned how to defend myself," he countered in an unconvincing voice.

Scorio rolled his eyes and sighed. "And what if someone else, oh I don't know, say an innocent civilian with no skill in combat needs your protection? You know the unrest hasn't stopped, and your boyfriend isn't exactly liked among most of the population. Do you really want to live with the consequences of what you could have done but refused to learn?"

Later, in hindsight, Kanden realized Scorio had been baiting him with an excellent point. In the moment, however, fury exploded inside his chest, and he lunged forward to shove his superior. "Oh, fuck off! I'm so tired of everyone's self-righteous attitude!"

To his chagrin, Scorio only laughed while every pair of eyes in the space seemed to look his way. "That's the energy I'm looking for!" he exclaimed in delight, taking a defensive stance. "Now take that rage and come at me like your boyfriend means something to you."

Despite the relatively cool temperature in the lower levels so near the underground river, Kanden's entire body ignited with heat. Ryker didn't deserve for people to keep shitting on him for simply choosing a side when he'd been a boy. He shouldn't have been forced to endure everyone's judgment for losing the genetic lottery and being born lower than everyone else. Nor did he deserve being the butt of every relentless joke or cautionary tale.

Taking a hasty swing at Scorio's head, Kanden snarled and sent spit flying. "You leave his name out of your mouth."

Scorio easily sidestepped him and swatted Kanden's arm away, chuckling the entire time. "Sure, if you can make me."

By this point, Kanden's vision clouded until all he could see of Scorio was a red blur. His body shook with indignation as his normal emotions that would have made him consider a shred of common sense fled his mind. In fact, he couldn't think of a single coherent thought as he tried again and again to land a hit, desperate to wipe that stupid smug grin off Scorio's face.

He missed each time.

"Your footwork is sloppy," Scorio taunted, dancing around Kanden's attacks and flicking his nose between sentences. "Your timing sucks, and you're wasting your energy stomping around like that."

Right as he might have been, Kanden refused to give up at that point. He wanted to land just one hit and prove he was capable of protecting the one man who might depend on him later.

Several minutes passed, leaving Kanden gasping and sweating while Scorio appeared completely at ease and unwinded. It wasn't until his squad leader flipped him on his back and gently touched his knee to Kanden's throat that the fight finally left him.

Kanden rested his head on the uneven rocky slab, heaving deeply and aching all over while curses spewed from his mouth.

After they'd been released to clean up and eat, the shifts had been assigned, with each new recruit attached to an experienced Enforcer. The fact Scorio had decided to stick to Kanden like a bad smell had come as no surprise.

As they patrolled the upper levels, with Scorio occasionally nodding his acknowledgment to those passing and Kanden, the former eventually spoke. "You understand why I goaded you, right? It wasn't personal."

Kanden snapped his head up, suddenly understanding their interaction and groaning. "Oh, I guess that makes sense. Sorry for lashing out."

"Mm-mm." Scorio halted in place and shook his head. "Enforcers don't apologize. This is our reality," he said, spreading his arms akimbo and slapping them to his thighs. "You've got to be one of the kindest people born to this earth, but you saw firsthand that a peaceful solution isn't always possible. Your father is the most lethal man here, and he couldn't save your mother. If we face another violent uprising, Ryker's life might depend on your ability to act."

Kanden's heart rate quickened and pulsed inside his throat. The responsibility was too great—he could barely take care of himself, and he wasn't confident he could do the same for Ryker if his life hung in the balance. The enforcers were supposed to keep people safe, and now Kanden was one of those soldiers, sworn to protect.

"I'm not a real Enforcer," he sighed, "I don't even know how I got through the training."

Scorio grinned, revealing a misshapen incisor that had grown in at a slanted angle. "It's because you're a fighter. I saw you that first day and wouldn't have believed your stubborn desire to keep going if I didn't know Bastion. If he wouldn't cut my balls off for the suggestion, I'd say you two or more alike than either of you will admit."

"We're not alike," Kanden fired back with a scowl.

"If you say so." Taking a moment to adjust his tunic, Scorio nodded for Kanden to walk again. "Look, I'm just saying you made it through on your own merit. Just because you can't fight worth a damn right now doesn't mean you can't improve. Anger is still simmering, especially toward people like Ryker. It doesn't matter what they did or didn't do; people are going to talk and form their own opinions. You need to be ready so more blood isn't shed, 'specially with that baby you two plan to raise."

With a gasp, Kanden whirled around. "Wait, what do you mean about the baby? I thought the Council hadn't decided on custody."

Scorio's cheeks darkened as he scratched his neck and winced. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to tell you yet. The Council is ruling on that right now behind closed doors with only a few witnesses. I was supposed to keep you away so you wouldn't worry or find yourself involved in a scuffle with Ember's parents. Yasmin found every reason to believe abuse occurred within that family, but no one will care since the public decided Ryker is a criminal."

The walls seemed to shrink all around them until Kanden couldn't breathe. He wasn't ready to be a father; he didn't know how to raise a baby. But he also knew he could never abandon Ryker or the child who'd done no wrong. Stumbling, he grabbed the wall for support. "We aren't even living together yet. How are we supposed to—"

An awkward chuckle broke the tension knotting Kanden's stomach as Scorio stood nearby with his hand up, but not touching him—ready to catch him just in case Kanden fainted. "Hey, it's all sorted. It was meant to be a surprise; please don't tell anyone I told you."

The old Kanden of five months ago would have run straight to the source of trouble, needing to witness events with his own eyes. His current self barely managed to contain the impulse. Needless to say, the rest of his shift was wasted on anxiety and the need to alternate between retching and counting the endless seconds to the end of his work day.

When the platoons were released for the day, he almost choked on his tongue when Yasmin came to collect him, watching him in an emotionless mask. How did all enforcers do that, he wondered? He couldn't hide a thought if he tried.

The truth must have shown because Yasmin scowled at Scorio, who wilted and offered a meek apology. Then she rolled her eyes and gave Kanden a motherly smile. "Are you ready to join your new family?"

Too jangled from nerves to speak, Kanden nodded, following her all the way to the Middle Class quarters. At a nondescript door that looked like all the others down the endless row, Yasmin said, "You and Ryker will live next door to my daughter Priya so she can continue nursing your daughter. I'm in a nearby unit as well, and the Council agreed this is the safest place for you two."

Kanden swallowed and wiped his misty eyes. "I— I don't know what to say."

When Yasmin smiled, she reminded him of Mother, so loving and full of wisdom, especially when she offered the following advice: "Relationships are like plants, Kanden. If you don't prune the rotting branches or weed your garden, your plants will die. When nurtured, your garden will thrive. As long as you and Ryker communicate openly, apologize when you have wronged the other, and forgive one another their transgressions, you will be happy for many years to come."

Damn speck of dust in Kanden's eyes. Still sniffing, he nodded. "Thank you," he squeaked.

Knocking and then opening the door, she said, "Congratulations."

He hadn't known before how he'd react upon the news—for better or worse—but the moment he saw Ryker bouncing a baby swaddled in a gray blanket, cooing and watching her with adoring eyes, Kanden's heart melted. His feet drew him forward until he was clutching Ryker's arm and peeking into the girl's peaceful, sleeping face with lashes fanning her squishy cheeks.

"What are we gonna call her?" Kanden asked.

Smiling wider than Kanden had ever seen, Ryker kissed his cheek and leaned into his embrace. "I thought we might name her Eudora. In those Greek books you brought me, she was the one of the five minor goddesses, and her name means a great gift."

Kanden moved behind Ryker so he encircled him in an embrace. Nuzzling Ryker's neck and chuckling when the short beard tickled his cheek, he declared, "It's perfect. She's perfect, and I'm honored to raise her with you."

"Are you okay with this?" Ryker asked quietly, stiffening in Kanden's arms. "I know you didn't want children, and that her parents weren't always nice, but—"

Kanden shushed him by pressing a kiss to the back of Ryker's head. "It's fine, I promise. You can't help where you come from, and everyone deserves a loving parent."

Ryker relaxed into Kanden's chest. "You don't know how lucky I am to be with you."

In truth, Kanden felt it was the opposite, that he was the fortunate one to find love. No matter how he'd felt previously about fatherhood, he understood now how his parents must have felt the moment he and his sister were born. Identifying the exact emotions was impossible, but in that single moment, Kanden's heart expanded to encompass this tiny life in his lover's arms. It was then he vowed to himself to try harder and learn to protect his family.