MELLISSA’S POV

Months passed, and I started to notice some changes around me at the academy. The same people who used to sneer began to step aside when I entered the ring. My strikes grew cleaner and faster. Even Kennedy admitted once, albeit grudgingly, “You are starting to scare me, Draco.”

I only smirked. “Good.”

Joem still challenged others, but never me, not directly. Yet he was always there, watching and studying. And when our eyes met across the training field, something in his gaze flickered between recognition and warning.

Sometimes, I thought he was protecting me. Other times, I thought he was testing me.

Whatever it was, it made...