Iris's POV
The werewolf girl threw me across the mat before I even saw her move.
My back slammed into the ground so hard all the air left my lungs. Pain exploded through my spine. Stars burst across my vision.
Laughter erupted around the training arena. Loud. Mocking. Cruel.
"One!" Someone shouted.
They were
counting.
I struggled to my feet. My legs shook. Everything hurt already and we'd been training for exactly thirty seconds.
"Again," Professor Frost's voice boomed from the side. No sympathy. No concern. Just a command.
The werewolf girl grinned at me. She had sharp teeth and sharper eyes. "Ready, human?"
I wasn't ready. I'd never be ready for this.
But I lifted my fists anyway.
She moved. I tried to block. Failed. Her fist connected with my stomach and I went down again.
"Two!" The crowd loved it.
I got up. Slower this time. My stomach screamed at me.
"This is pathetic," a vampire boy called out. "Why is a human even here?"
"Entertainment," someone else answered. More laughter.
The werewolf girl swept my legs out from under me. I crashed down hard.
"Three!"
Four. Five. Six. Seven.
Each time I went down, the laughter got louder. Each time I got up, my body protested more. My muscles burned. My bones ached. Blood dripped from my split lip.
"Maybe we should stop," I heard Petra say from somewhere in the crowd. "She's going to get seriously hurt."
"That's the point," Professor Frost said coldly. "Pain teaches. Get up, Miss Hale."
Eight. Nine. Ten.
I couldn't breathe right anymore. Every breath felt like knives in my ribs. The werewolf girl wasn't even trying hard. She was playing with me. Like a cat with a mouse.
"Eleven!"
"Someone stop this," another voice said. "This is cruel."
"This is
training," Professor Frost snapped. "She chose this. She stays until I say stop."
Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.
My vision was blurry now. Tears mixed with sweat mixed with blood. I could barely see the werewolf girl anymore. Just a shape moving impossibly fast.
"Fifteen!"
"This is embarrassing," someone muttered. "Just quit already."
"Yeah, save yourself the shame."
"Humans don't belong here."
Sixteen. Seventeen.
Five minutes. We'd been fighting for five minutes and I'd been knocked down seventeen times.
I lay on the mat. Everything hurt. Everything. My body was screaming at me to stay down. To give up. To admit they were right.
I was weak. I didn't belong here. This was impossible.
Then I heard his voice.
"She's done." Caspian. Cold. Certain. "Professor Frost, this has gone far enough. She can't—"
Something inside me snapped.
Not my body. Not my bones. Something deeper.
My pride. My determination. My
rage.
He was up there. Watching. Judging. Deciding I couldn't do this.
Just like he'd decided I wasn't good enough to be his mate.
Just like he'd decided I was weak.
No.
I pushed myself up. My arms shook so badly I almost collapsed again. But I didn't.
I stood.
The laughter stopped. The arena went quiet.
"I'm not done," I said. My voice came out rough. Broken. But loud enough to hear.
The werewolf girl looked surprised. "You can barely stand."
"I'm. Not. Done." I lifted my fists again. They felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each.
Professor Frost's voice cut through the silence. "Continue."
The werewolf girl shrugged. "Your funeral."
She moved. I tried to dodge. Too slow. Way too slow.
Her fist caught my shoulder. I spun and went down hard.
"Eighteen!" someone shouted.
But this time, something was different.
No one was laughing.
I lay on the mat, tasting blood. My whole body was one massive bruise. Every nerve was on fire.
Stay down, my body begged.
Please just stay down.
I heard footsteps. Someone walking across the mat toward me.
"Iris." Caspian's voice. Closer now. He'd come down from the observation deck. "Stop. You proved your point. You're brave. Everyone can see that. But this is—"
"Don't." I cut him off. Still on the ground. Still bleeding. But my voice was steel. "Don't you
dare tell me to stop."
I could see his feet. Expensive training shoes. Perfect and clean while I bled on the mat.
"You're going to hurt yourself permanently," he said. Something in his voice sounded almost... worried?
"Good," I spat. Blood came out with the word. "Maybe then I'll finally be strong enough for you."
Silence. Thick and heavy.
Then I moved. Putting my hands under me. Pushing up.
My arms gave out twice. But the third time, they held.
I got to my knees. Then one foot. Then the other.
I stood.
Eighteen times down. Eighteen times back up.
I looked at Caspian. Really looked at him for the first time since the rejection.
He looked horrified. His face was pale. His hands were clenched into fists.
"Go back to your observation deck," I said quietly. "And watch me refuse to quit."
"Iris—"
"Watch me prove you wrong," I continued. My voice got stronger. Louder. "Watch me become everything you said was impossible. Watch me become
strong."
I turned away from him. Faced the werewolf girl. Lifted my fists again.
"Again," I said.
The werewolf girl's expression had changed. She wasn't smiling anymore. She was looking at me differently. Like maybe I wasn't just a joke after all.
"You're insane," she said. But it sounded almost like respect.
"Probably," I agreed. "Again."
Professor Frost's voice boomed across the arena. "Everyone is watching, Miss Hale. Show them what you're made of."
I could feel them. All the supernatural students. Professor Frost. Petra. And most importantly,
Caspian.
They were all watching. Waiting to see if I'd break.
The werewolf girl charged.
I didn't dodge in time. Of course I didn't. I was too slow, too hurt, too human.
But this time—
This time, I saw her fist coming.
For just a split second before it connected, I
saw it.
I went down. Hard. Again.
But lying there on the mat, bleeding and broken, something fierce blazed through me.
Because that split second meant something.
It meant my eyes were getting faster.
It meant I was learning.
It meant this was possible.
"Enough!" Professor Frost's voice rang out. "First session complete. Miss Hale, report to the medical bay."
I stayed on the mat. Not because I couldn't get up this time.
But because I'd done it.
I'd survived my first training session. Gotten knocked down more times than I could count. Bled. Hurt. Failed.
But I hadn't quit.
And in that last second, I'd seen the punch coming.
Hands grabbed me. Petra and another student helping me up.
"You're completely insane," Petra whispered. But she was smiling. "And absolutely incredible."
As they helped me toward the exit, I looked up at the observation deck one last time.
Caspian stood there. Frozen. Staring at me with an expression I couldn't read.
And I smiled.
A bloody, broken, victorious smile.
Because tomorrow, I'd come back.
And tomorrow, maybe I'd only get knocked down sixteen times.
This was just day one.
I had four years to become impossible.