EMBER.
The mat dips slightly under his weight when he steps onto it. Not sinks—dips, like the floor itself is bracing.
Lily lifts her head inside me.
'Big'
She murmured. Not impressed. Just alert.
The man—no, the mountain—rolls his shoulders once, slow and deliberate. Each movement pulls muscle over bone like coiled steel.
He doesn’t smile.
Doesn’t sneer.
He just looks at me the way predators look at prey they haven’t decided how to kill yet.
Kai’s voice cuts through the tension.
“No shifting. Partial manifestation allowed. Yield ends it.”
Of course.
I plant my feet and flex my fingers, claws itching beneath my skin. Around us, the class has gone deathly quiet. I don’t need to look to know Alec is rigid, barely contained fury bleeding into the room.
Harper mutters somethin
