Aren continued, "You may hide your name. You may hide your past. But you will not hide your blade. If you intend to be something in this Academy — if you intend to survive — you will learn our discipline."
He turned his back deliberately — giving Coren the rarest possible show of trust.
Or control.
"Meet me here tomorrow before dawn," Aren said. "Alone."
He paused at the doorway.
"And Coren?"
Coren didn't answer.
Aren smiled — a small, dangerous, knowing thing.
"Whatever truth you carry… keep it sharp."
He left.
The hall fell silent.
Only then did Coren exhale.
Valenna's voice wrapped around him like a cloak made of shadows.
He does not know you, Soren.
He only knows the mask.
And masks can be used.
Coren tightened his grip on the practice blade.
"He won't break through," he murmured internally.
Valenna's approval slid warm against his mind.
Of course not.
You are Soren Thorne.
Coren Vale is merely the story you let them read.
