Chapter 57
Arden wasn’t entirely certain if her promise had truly sunk in, but she was willing to bank on the sudden silence. In the week following their altercation, the atmosphere in the barracks had shifted. The air no longer felt charged with Douglas’s petty malice, and the constant hum of disrespectful comments from his followers had finally cooled off.
She noticed that he was no longer lying in wait for her at every turn, nor was he actively attempting to sabotage her standing within the Guard. For the first time in a long while, Douglas seemed to be keeping a wary distance, as if he finally understood that the fire he was playing with was no longer under his control.
Even Malakor noticed the shift while reviewing his hidden camera feeds; Douglas had become a ghost near Arden. Whe
