Chapter 43 The First Betrayal

• "Someone I trusted turned out to be a knife in the dark."
• It started with whispers. It always did.
• The instructors had paired me with a new opponent in combat drills-someone faster, sharper, who seemed to anticipate my every move before I even made it. At first, I thought it was coincidence. Luck. But when the third student in a row countered my strikes with uncanny precision, realization settled in like ice water.