Aveline
The gym was a graveyard of heavy breathing and cooling iron. Kai had already slipped out, leaving me alone in the flickering, dying light of the halogen lamps. I was a mess—drenched in sweat that made my shirt translucent, my hair matted to my forehead, and my knuckles raw from the relentless friction of the heavy bag. My body hummed with a violent, electric vibration. The Guardian pulse hadn't fully receded; it was still there, flickering behind my eyes like heat lightning.
I reached for my water bottle, my hand trembling. I felt... alive. For the first time since the fire, I wasn't waiting for the blow to land. I was the blow.
A floorboard groaned near the entrance.
I didn't turn. I didn't have to. The air in the room didn't just shift; it pressurized. The scent of rain-soake
