SCARLET OMEGA’S POV
Last night had been worse than usual, my mind cycling through the old Castillo’s measured voice and Kade’s bruised temple and Ivy’s hand drawing back and the look on Vance’s face when he’d told the enforcers to let me in, like it cost him something he hadn’t budgeted for.
I was still turning it all over when Lina knocked on my door at half past six.
“Training,” she said, already dressed, her natural hair pulled back and her expression carrying the particular resignation of someone who had made peace with inconvenience. She held out a coffee. “Don’t argue with me.”
I took the coffee, and downed the entire liquid in two cups. I didn’t argue.
The training grounds sat at the western edge of campus, a sprawling open field bordered by the treeline on one side and the fac
