Chapter 26
Chapter 26
The shirt shouldn’t have meant anything. Just a piece of soft black fabric folded into the corner of my drawer. Just a borrowed item, returned by mistake, That what I told myself when I found it again that morning, tucked beneath a clean blouse.,
But it still carried his scent. And now it was a problem.
Rumors had already been festering since the night Damon caught me half–naked in the changing room and gave me that shirt to wear. I should’ve made sure it found its way back to him. Burned it, maybe.
Anything but let it linger like a dirty little secret.
Thadn’t worn it again, not really. But I hadn’t gotte
ofi
And
now, apparently,
Because as I stepped into the training area that morn
WILSONAL had seen it.
Sion that had nothing to do with combat prep.
“She’s not even trying to hide it anymore,” someone muttered
near the lockers.
“Did you see what she was folding earlier? Black shirt. His size.”
Whispers trailed me like perfume, clinging no matter how straight I stood or how indifferent I tried to look. The palace girls moved in small clusters now, heads bowed close together as if discussing strategy.
But I knew better. They were discussing me.
I brushed past a few of them on my way to the practice mats. One girl – Tasha, maybe? – gave an treatment.”
exaggerated sniff as I passed. “Smells like special
Another stifled a giggle. “Come on now, she probably stole it.”
I gritted my teeth and kept walking.
Let them talk. Let them twist themselves into knots trying to make sense of why the King would pay attention to me. I didn’t have time for their jealousy. Not with the combat trial looming over me like a literal death sentence.
Still, I couldn’t ignore their gossip completely. My skin crawled with it. At least Vanessa had been quiet this morning.
I made the mistake of thinking maybe, just maybe, she’d finally run out of venom to spit. But as I neared the weapon racks to retrieve my practice blades, her voice sliced through the tension like the blade in her hand.
“Careful, Elena,” she purred from behind me. “Wouldn’t want to sweat too much and ruin His Majesty’s shirt.”
I paused, one hand closing around the leather–wrapped hilt of a dagger. Slowly, I turned to face her.
Vanessa leaned against the rack near the sparring circle, arms folded, a smirk playing across her painted lips. Her eyes glinted with cruel delight. “Or is that part of your new training routine? Sleep in his clothes, wake up favored?”
I offered her a flat smile. “You seem very interested in what I wear. Should I be flattered or concerned?”
Laughter tittered from a few of her groupies nearby, though none of them met my eyes.
Vanessa’s smile sharpened. “Just trying to understand how a wolf with your… resume keeps landing in such privileged situations. New room. Special attention. Clothing exchanges.”
My fingers twitched around the dagger. “You’re reaching, Vanessa.”
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Chapter 26
17- Her eyes narrowed. Or are you just nervant, coincone e finally noticlines
she was batting me I knew it. She wanted me to explode. Wanted me to snap and earn myself another punishment. Maybe even a diskred
But I was too damın fired to care. Too focused on the knot of anxiety coiling in my gut over tonight’s match. Over the name written on the lot I never di
panion.
I turned back to the rack, sliding a second dagger out to test its balance. “You should focus on your own training. I hear toilet duty doesn’t improve combat form.”
The gasp behind me was quiet, but satisfying.
Vanessa didn’t reply. Not out loud. But I could feel her glare burning
e into
the back of my head as I walked away, throat dry and pulse hammering
I was losing time. I needed to train. Needed to move
“It might have… been done on purpose.”
A chill swept down my spine despite the warmth of the hall. questioning me, I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
Done on purpose.
d to stop thinking about how the healer’s words from home kept replaying in my head.
Thadn
myself dwell on it for days. But now, with the combat trial closing in and Damón
Something had been wrong with my wolf since I was young. I’d always assumed I was just weak. That I hadn’t inherited the same strength others had.
But what if it had been taken from me?
What if someone had stolen it?
My heart thudded harder, and I pushed the thought down, shoving it deep beneath the years of
survival depended on discipline, not despair.
f struggle. No answers were coming today. And right now,
The practice dummy in front of me bore the brunt of my frustration. I drove the dagger forward in a clean jab, pivoted, slashed upward. The wooden surface bit into the blade, splinters catching on the edge, but I didn’t stop.
Strike. Pivot. Parry. Breathe.
The pattern soothed me. The rhythm of motion. The ache of effort. It reminded me who l
I didn’t need Damon’s favor. I didn’t need Vanessa’s approval.
was beneath the name I’d stolen.
I needed control. I needed power. I needed to make it through tonight without collapsing in front of the entire palace while facing the most dangerous
man alive.
The man who had held me like I mattered.
The man whose shirt still smelled like him.
My blade slipped. Just a fraction. A tremor in my grip.
“Focus,” I hissed under my breath. But in my mind it was Damon’s voice repeating those words in our training sessions.
I shifted stance, forcing myself into another form. A clean, defensive arc followed by a downward slash. The wooden dummy groaned under the impact.
“You’re overcorrecting,” a voice said behind me, low and cool.
I froze.
Damon stood just inside the training ring, arms crossed over his chest, eyes tracking my every move. Of course he was watching.
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Fri, 30 May
Chapter 26
“That pivot would’ve exposed your left side to a kill strike,” he continued,
I set my jaw. “I know.”
“Then don’t do it again.”
He moved closer, his eyes lingering briefly on the blade, then on me. He didn’t comment on the rumors. Didn’t ask about the shirt. But something in his gaze told me he knew. Or maybe he didn’t need to. Maybe he could smell his own scent on me.
Nated the flush that crept up my neck.
“I’ll be ready,” I said quietly, stepping back from the dummy.
His head tilted, just slightly. “We’ll see.”
He didn’t stay. Just watched me for one beat longer, then turned and disappeared through the far archway, his presence leaving the air even heavier than it had been before.
The whispers would get worse after this, if that were even possible.
I closed my eyes for a breath, steadying my nerves. Ruby remained still in the back of my mind–present, but sluggish. Like something coiled beneath too many layers of frost.
…done on purpose.
But I picked up the dagger again and trained like my life depended on it.
