#Chapter 104 – Lessons Begin

Lila I had never been so aware of my posture in my life. Back straight. Chin lifted. Hands folded neatly in my lap. Every breath I took in the training chamber felt rehearsed—like if I inhaled too deeply or blinked too slowly, someone would find fault in it. They were watching. All of them. The former candidates who hadn’t left the palace hovered in a semicircle near the back wall, draped in silk and smugness. A few nobles lounged at the edges of the room under the pretense of court interest, but it was clear what they were really here for: bloodsport, disguised as my etiquette lessons. And at the center of it all stood Jackson. His robes were crisp and regulation-perfect, his tone even, his expression unreadable. He held a leather-bound journal like it was a gavel and addressed the room with the flatness of a man who’d already decided the outcome. “Today’s lesson,” he said, “will begin with a review of historical Pack alliances and their significance in Luna influenc