The academy smelled like ash and blood.
Charred stone. Burned books. Injured wolves limping across cracked tiles.
And among them—Ivy.
Alive. Barely.
Her arms were wrapped in bandages. Her flame felt weaker than before, flickering at the edge of her control. The power she’d unleashed to repel Vaelrik had left a c***k behind—not just in her magic, but in herself.
She stood in the Great Hall as Elders and instructors assessed the damage.
Malric’s voice echoed through the ruin.
“We won the battle… but not the war.”
Later, Ivy stared at her reflection in the shattered mirror of her dorm room.
Her eyes weren’t the same anymore.
One still glowed golden.
But the other… had darkened to molten obsidian.
A mark of her mixed bloodline.
A symbol of the power inside her.
And maybe—proof th
