The next day,

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The training room was a converted storage space, cleared of debris, reinforced with wards that absorbed magical discharge. Aria had designed it for the Zodiac's conditioning, for the brutal efficiency of combat drills that separated candidates from casualties. She had not designed it for children.

Lycian, Fenris, and Drako stood in the center of the room, dressed in training tunics that Virelle had modified from adult gear, their small bodies dwarfed by the space around them.

11They looked fragile. They looked breakable. They looked like exactly the kind of assets that should not be exposed to combat training until they had developed the physical resilience to...