{CAROLINE}
"Feisty," Valerius said with approval. "You're the first human girl who has ever dared to fight me—and actually land a strike."
I flicked the dagger, settling into a defensive stance. My muscles screamed with tension, every sense attuned to movement.
I had fought creatures of the dark before. But never like this. Never without my arcane.
Curse this school and its many restrictions. Humans were granted no special dispensation to defend ourselves—no allowances, no mercy—despite lacking the unnatural strength of the creatures who ruled the night.
We were expected to survive on wit and will alone, fragile bodies pitted against fangs and claws, as though resilience could substitute for power.
"I don't want to kill you," I warned. "But if my life is threatened, I will not hesitate. A silver dagger through the heart will end even a noble vampire."
