Ash’s POV
The next day felt like it belonged to someone else. I stayed in the room because Rowan had already handled everything with the headmaster. He didn’t tell the truth, of course. Who would? Instead he spun a story about an accidental horse-riding incident in the old fields. Horses. In Valemount. I almost laughed when I overheard one of the healers repeating it in the hallway.
Apparently the academy kept a small stable for ceremonial runs and border patrols, but nobody ever talked about it. Convenient lie. Rowan was good at those.
I spent the morning pretending to be fragile. The truth was my body had already done its work. By the time the sun climbed high enough to burn through the curtains, the gash on my shoulder was nothing more than a faint pink line, already fading. My ribs
