Chapter 142

*Varis*

I was the first one awake. Or maybe I’d never actually slept.

The weight in my bones said I had. The ache in my knuckles said I hadn’t.

Dawn hadn’t broken yet. The trees stood as jagged silhouettes against a sky of bruised gray. The makeshift training post behind the last tent hadn’t seen use in days, and that was precisely why I came. No crowd. No stares. No whispers about what I’d done.