Alina.
Morning training was already a bad idea, but apparently the instructors thought it was the perfect time to remind us we were all replaceable. The air in the combat hall was thick with the smell of sweat, metal, and ambition. Everyone looked like they'd been woken too early and told they had to fight for their breakfast. Which, knowing this place, might've actually been the case.
We were barely through warm-ups when Kael stepped forward and claimed me as his partner. Not asked. Claimed.
"Switch," he told the guy I'd been paired with, his tone making it sound like a command rather than a suggestion. The other boy didn't argue. No one did when Kael decided something.
I knew from the look in his eyes this wasn't going to be a gentle session. He rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and smiled like someone had just given him permission to break furniture.
"Ready, sunshine?"
I gritted my teeth. "Stop calling me that."
He lunged before I'd finished the sentence.
