Morning light poured over the academy training grounds.
Holden walked across the grass with Lyra beside him. She'd changed out of the banquet gown and back into her academy uniform. Her hair was down, loose around her shoulders. She looked more like herself again.
The outdoor training fields were mostly empty this early. A few dedicated students ran drills in the distance. The archery range at the far end had only one occupant.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Renna was firing arrows at a target with aggressive intensity. Each shot hit dead center, splitting the previous arrow down the shaft. Her jaw was clenched. Her shoulders were tight. She was shooting like she wanted to kill the target.
Twenty feet away, Emric sat on a bench with a thick textbook open on his lap. He wasn't reading it. He was just staring at the pages, turning them occasionally without absorbing a single word.
Holden slowed as they approached.
