He was just another name I’d forget.
Eventually.
When I entered the dorm, the room was dim, just the soft amber glow of the desk lamp barely touching the edges of the walls. My bag hit the floor with a thud. I didn’t care enough to be quiet. If he woke up, he woke up.
Vaughn was curled up on his bed, half-tucked beneath the thin blanket. Small. Still healing. His chest rose and fell steadily, a low wheeze in his breath, probably from the hits he’d taken.
I threw myself onto my own bed with a sigh, folding one arm beneath my head, eyes drawn—despite myself—back to the other side of the room.
He was… tiny.
No other word for it. In a place like Thalvion where every guy looked like they were carved from stone and bred for war, Vaughn barely brushed 5’7”. He didn’t belong here—not with th
