KADE
Something was wrong with Sera.
I noticed it the moment she walked into the training grounds that morning. Her posture was different, stiff, guarded. Her eyes didn't meet mine. She stood at attention like a soldier waiting for orders, not like the woman who'd argued with me yesterday about being sidelined.
"Morning," I said, studying her face.
"Good morning," she replied. Her voice was flat, emotionless.
Not 'good morning, Kade' with that slight edge of sarcasm she'd developed, not even a greeting with personality. Just two words delivered like a report.
I frowned. "You slept okay?"
"Yes, sir."
Sir?
"You don't need to call me that," I said.
"Understood." She kept staring at a point past my shoulder, her face blank.
This was wrong, this wasn't Sera. The woman I'd been trainin
