MORE THAN A MISTAKE

MORE THAN A MISTAKE
His cruel princess, her warm knight
In the sterile, high-tension halls of the Blackwood Combat Academy, eyes tell the story that words are too dangerous to speak. Niomi carries a gaze like a midnight sea-deep, dark blue and colder than the steel she wields. She is the academy's most disciplined shadow, a fighter whose movements are as precise as they are lethal. To her, emotion is a tactical error, and she has spent years perfecting a frost that no one can melt.

Then there is Alaric. With eyes the color of molten amber and harvest gold, he is the sun to her winter, and he radiates a magnetic, infuriating warmth. He's the only recruit who doesn't flinch when she draws a blade. He's the only one who dares to smirk at her lethal silence, calling her "Princess" not out of reverence, but to see the spark of rage in those dark blue depths.

Their rivalry is the heartbeat of the pits. Every sparring session is a clash of ice and fire, a brutal dance where they push each other to the breaking point. He fights with a protective, grounded heat; she fights with a desperate, sharp-edged cold. They are enemies by choice and partners by a "mistake" of the administration-or so they tell themselves.

But as the academy's dark secrets begin to surface, the friction between them shifts. Alaric begins to soften, his protective instincts turning into a genuine, steady warmth that threatens to thaw her defenses. Niomi, however, remains a fortress. She is still the "Cruel Princess," clutching her secrets like a weapon, even as the walls around her heart begin to crack.

Slowly, painfully, the truth of their pasts begins to bleed out, proving that their collision in the ring was never an accident. It was a catalyst. It was More Than a Mistake.