Chapter 42
Vanya
Later that night, after a shower and the blandest dinner I’d ever forced down, I returned to the dorm with Kross at my side. The day had been full—academics, training, soccer, and now… silence. The kind of silence that wasn't awkward, but loaded. Muted, but alive.
He had kept his part of the deal—more than that. He had gone out of his way, trained me like I wasn’t completely hopeless, and didn’t even flinch when Wilde’s goons circled us. He’d fought for me. Defended Vaughn like it mattered.
I didn’t know what that meant.
And that’s exactly why I was scared.
I threw myself onto the bed and exhaled sharply, letting the mattress swallow my body. Muscles aching, head spinning, brain full from all the knowledge and battle stances and plays he’d drilled into me. One of the
