Brax POV
Brax didn’t like whispers. He especially didn’t like them when they died the second he stepped into a room.
As he crossed the corridor outside the training grounds, a group of warriors fell abruptly silent. One was mid-sentence—“Did you see the way she was just staring at the air?”—and shut up so fast he nearly choked. The others scattered like pups caught sneaking meat from the kitchens.
Brax narrowed his eyes. He knew who they were talking about.
Veronica.
He exhaled slowly through his nose and kept walking, grinding his teeth as he climbed the steps to his office. The paperwork waiting on his desk was even more infuriating than usual—Council registrations for the witches. More red tape. More oversight.
He’d barely finished the first form when Ezra knocked and stepped insi
