The first morning in the academy was a battlefield on its own.
Rayana woke before dawn, her body stiff from the previous day's exhaustion. The thin mattress beneath her was nothing like the silken sheets she once had in the palace, but she forced herself to push those memories aside. She was no longer a princess—she was a nameless recruit in a place where weakness meant death.
She sat up, cautiously feeling the bindings around her chest. Last night’s rain had weakened them, but they still held. Barely. She needed to find a better solution, and soon.
Across the room, Khael was already awake, sitting on his bed with one arm slung over his knee. His dark eyes flickered toward her, but he said nothing. Instead, he ran a hand through his tousled silver-black hair, his muscles flexing under h
