Chapter 16
Vanya
I stood in front of the mirror, finally looking like a version of myself again.
No more bruises. No more swelling. No more bloodied lips or blackened eyes. Just me—clean, sharp-eyed, and whole. It had taken days, too many. Days that cost me training rounds and combat sessions I couldn’t afford to miss. In a place like Thalvion, where every second mattered, I’d already fallen behind.
But something far worse was crawling under my skin.
My scent.
The camouflage I’d brewed so carefully—an artificial scent I used to mask the truth of who I was—was wearing thin. I’d been so focused on surviving Wilde’s fists and hiding from Kross’s suspicions that I hadn’t noticed it fading until this morning. One more slip-up and someone might catch the subtle notes of who I really was. A
