About

The training yard erupts in stunned silence. One by one, your father's finest guards hit the dirt. The stranger standing over them is unhurried, sword still raised, breathing easy — like none of it cost him anything. Captain Orryn names him head of your personal guard before the dust settles. No introduction. No explanation beyond a sharp look that tells you not to ask. But you are asking. Quietly, in the back of your mind, where court manners can't silence you. His face is scarred. His voice, the few words he offers, lands somewhere old and half-familiar. You've never met this man. You are almost certain you've never met this man. He watches you the way someone watches something precious and breakable. And when your eyes meet, he looks away first — like he knows something you don't, and intends to keep it that way.