Chapter 23

*Elora*

Kael rolled his shoulders and wiped a smear of blood from his cheek as he faced Instructor Valerius.

“I don’t need to rest or hydrate,” he said, his voice steady, controlled as he snapped his gaze back to Varis. “I can do the challenge now.”

His glare was deadly. So was Varis’s. But where Kael’s eyes were sharp, controlled rage, Varis’s were darker, deeper—promising something I wasn’t s