Lex Arden waited in a silent room.

  No weapons.

  No Ni.

  Just a mat.

  “What is combat?” Lex asked quietly.

  Kaelen hesitated. “Winning.”

  Lex shook his head.

  “Wrong.”

  Lex dismantled him.

  Not with strength—

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  but precision.

  Every movement Kaelen made was countered. Every strike anticipated.

  “You rush.”

  “You panic.”

  “You cling to anger.”

  Kaelen finally snapped, charging wildly.

  Lex swept him, pinned him, and held him there.

  “You are weak because you need to prove something,” Lex said.

  “That need will get you killed.”

  Lex released him.

  Kaelen lay on the floor, shaking.

  Then—

  The pressure changed.

  A presence filled the room.

  Kaze stood in the doorway.

  He said nothing.

  He crossed the room and struck Kaelen once.

  Kaelen didn’t even see it.

  He hit the wall and slid down, barely conscious.

  Kaze looked down at him.

  “Pathetic,” the Vampire King said calmly.

  “And necessary.”

  He turned and left.

  Kaelen lay in his room hours later, body bruised, spirit crushed.

  He stared at the ceiling.

  I’m not enough.

  The castle was silent.

  Tomorrow, it would begin again.