Jace’s POV
The Academy was a furnace of whispers.
By dawn, Zara’s name had already spread through every corridor, every classroom, every whispered exchange between students who thought their words wouldn’t carry. The news traveled faster than fire itself: Zara Blackwood had unleashed dragon flame.
Her hybrid form wasn’t rumors anymore. It wasn’t whispered in the shadows. It was a fact.
“She’s not a wolf,” one girl gasped as I walked past her cluster of friends. “She’s something else.”
“A monster wolf,” a boy muttered, and the others nodded like it was gospel.
“No wonder Kai’s gone,” another chimed in, voice low but laced with fear. “She burned him alive.”
My fists clenched at my sides, knuckles aching. Every instinct screamed at me to shut them up, but if I fought every voice that s
