(𝐊𝐀𝐙 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐊𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐗 𝐅. 𝐎𝐂)
❝︎Why didn't he see
it coming?❞︎
BORN A PRISONER, TURNED INTO
one of the best soldiers of the Second
Army was Vera Sokolov, a Fjerdan
girl born with Shadow Sum...
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LIKE A SERPENT preparing to strike at its prey, Vera walked around the inferni—her name was Joye but Vera had only learned after the match—who shook with fear. Both could feel the eyes of the crowd burning into them, but both ignored it.
Make a move. Vera urged the girl mentally, her eyes observing Joye's body language with amusement. She noticed the inferni's fingers twitching into fists by her side as the girl spun in circles, keeping an eye on Vera who only continued to walk calmly. Go on, attack me.
She had made an entire circle around the inferni, but not once had Joye reached out to attack. By the time she reached Botkin he reached his arm forward and stopped her by lightly grasping her shoulder, he lowered his voice so that only she could hear him, ordering, "Stop playing with your food."
Vera only gave a short nod, still not taking her eyes off Joye. She continued forward as Botkin quickly retracted his hand, only this time Vera slowly got closer to the girl. The other Grisha watched as the Joye still didn't make any move to attack, knowing that the inferni would no doubt lose the brawl.
Truly, it was an unfair fight. Vera almost felt bad for the girl.
Joye was a fairly new inferni, that meaning she had only recently joined classes. But in her mind Vera figured it was good she was facing her so early on, it meant that Joy would be able to understand the work she would have to put into getting better sooner than later.
Vera let out a calming breath before she gave in to the expectant stares and leaped forward to officially begin the spar.
﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎
Vera was someone who usually let the rumors about her fly wild. Probably because they never damaged her reputation, only made people fear her more, something Kirigan often assured her was a good thing.
However, she didn't exactly reap the rewards of the whispers either. People turned to her as she walked quietly in the halls, all stopping to stare, but none of them offered a conversation or greeting to her. Vera wanted to scream at them to mind their own business but just kept walking. It was all she could do at this part. As she got further into the building the people thinned out and the halls were mostly empty.
Then she spotted two girls, one tall, one short, both beautiful. Marie and Joleynn. They were standing by a wall, both so enraptured in their conversation that neither of them had spotted her. That was good because it allowed her to get closer without them noticing, which would allow her to hear their conversation. Which—not to inflate her ego too much—was usually about her.
