"Who says you aren't powerful?"
She said it without hesitation, her expression suddenly serious, all traces of bratty arrogance gone.
The weight behind her words made me freeze.
It was… a compliment. A genuine one, maybe. And it threw me off more than any insult ever could.
Did I have the potential to be powerful? Sure. With my innate skills, with time and training, maybe one day I could stand tall. But right now? No. Right now, I was barely holding myself together.
Her mother was powerful. The Alpha Deer was powerful. Those were creatures that made the ground tremble just by existing, monsters that bent the world around them with sheer presence.
But Eli Cross, the goblin?
I was still a work in progress. A cracked blade that hadn't yet been reforged.
I drew in a shaky breath and forced myself to respond, my voice low and rough. "You saw how easily your mother manhandled me. I'm not powerful."
