Jake's POV
They saw her today.
Really saw her.
Sweating, bleeding, relentless,fighting like she had nothing to prove and everything to lose.
And still, the whispers hadn’t stopped.
They were quieter now, sure. But not gone. Not buried. Just curled beneath the surface, waiting for another crack in her armor.
Waiting for her to fall.
I stood at the window of the war room, the training field stretching into the dusk. The dirt still bore the marks of sparring,boot prints, scattered blood, the fractured outline of a wooden staff.
She hadn’t held back. I’d watched her train from the shadows longer than I should have, watched her take hit after hit without flinching.
Watched her earn something more important than silence.
Respect.
But still
The weight pressed down.
Because every bru
