Zara's POV
The training field today was nothing like I expected. No rows of neat benches or polished mats. Just jagged ground, and a ring of stone that pulsed faintly with ancient magic. Students gathered around its edge like vultures, breathless and hungry for drama. I was one of them, standing with Talia, still chewing the last of my apple, trying to make sense of the tension thickening in the air.
"Combat class today," she muttered beside me, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Something's off."
Something was always off at Blackwood. But this time, I agreed.
The instructor, a broad-shouldered man with gray stubble and a jagged scar running down his neck, paced the center of the ring. He had the kind of presence that made even the cockiest vampire shut up. I hadn't le
