Sleep came to Luna in fragments. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Sora's face as it hit the ground, the smirk wiped clean by her own fists. She should have felt triumphant. Instead, she only felt the weight of it.
The House of Shadows was molding her, and she wasn't sure whether it was shaping her into a weapon—or hollowing her out into something she might not recognize when it was over.
The morning drills began before dawn. Exhaustion dragged at her body, but she moved, step after step, refusing to show weakness. The instructors were merciless, their eyes scanning for hesitation like wolves looking for prey.
Jax ran beside her. His pace was steady, his breath even, though his face was pale with fatigue.
"You pushed too hard yesterday," he muttered under his breath.
"I survived," she answered, keeping her eyes forward.
He gave a faint, humorless smile. "Surviving isn't enough here. You've got to learn control—or one day, the fire in you is going to burn you alive."
She glanced at him then, surprised. Few spoke to her with anything other than cruelty or contempt. Jax's words weren't gentle, but they weren't mocking either. They carried something rarer. Concern.
Before she could answer, a voice cut through the morning air.
"Look at the little survivor."
Kai.
He was leaning against the wall near the training hall, arms crossed, his eyes locked on Luna with that familiar glint of arrogance. But there was something else there now—something sharper.
"You got lucky yesterday," he said. "But don't think one win makes you strong."
Luna met his gaze, her breath steady. "Maybe not. But it makes me stronger than you thought."
A flicker of anger crossed his face. The other recruits slowed, sensing the tension.
"Fight me," Kai snapped.
The instructors didn't stop him. They never did when blood was about to be spilled.
The circle formed. Luna stepped inside. So did Kai.
This was no cage match with rules, no test assigned by the instructors. This was something else.
A proving.
Kai moved first, faster than Sora had been. His strikes were clean, precise, the product of months—maybe years—of training. Luna blocked one, dodged another, but his fist clipped her jaw and sent her staggering.
Pain flared, but she steadied herself, her fists clenched.
Kai smirked. "You're nothing but raw fury. That's not enough to beat me."
Luna wiped the blood from her lip and smiled—cold, fierce. "Then I'll learn. On you."
She lunged, catching him off guard. Her movements weren't polished, but they were unpredictable, driven by sheer instinct. She landed a blow to his ribs, then another to his shoulder.
For a moment, the crowd gasped.
Kai's smirk faltered.
But he was stronger, faster, and he recovered quickly. His knee drove into her stomach, stealing her breath. As she staggered, his elbow cracked against her back, sending her to her knees.
The fight might have ended there—if not for Jax's voice, sharp and urgent from the edge of the circle:
"Don't match his strength. Use your speed."
Luna's head snapped up. Their eyes met for the briefest second. Jax wasn't giving her pity—he was giving her a strategy.
She shifted.
The next time Kai lunged, she didn't block. She slipped aside, her movements sharper, faster, weaving around him like smoke. Each strike she landed was smaller, but they added up, chipping at his rhythm, frustrating him.
Finally, she caught him off guard—her elbow crashing into his temple. He stumbled.
The circle erupted in shouts.
But before she could press the advantage, an instructor's whistle split the air.
"Enough."
The fight was over.
Kai glared at her, his chest heaving. Not defeated, but not victorious either.
As the circle broke apart, Jax stepped close, his voice low. "You listened."
Luna's lips curved into the faintest ghost of a smile. "Maybe I don't know everything."
For the first time since entering the House of Shadows, Luna felt the strange, dangerous stirrings of something she had never allowed herself before.
Not victory.
Not survival.
Trust.