An Old Friend

A curse escaped Arran's mouth as soon as he recognized the Knight. He'd only seen her once before, but as he looked at her, he knew immediately who she was — the woman he'd met in the ruined battlefield at the edge of the borderlands.

Dark-eyed and sharp-featured, she was just as beautiful as he remembered — and every bit as terrifying, too.

While she was neither particularly tall nor unusually muscular, her movements held a casual tension that hinted at barely veiled power, as if she could unleash a devastating attack at any moment.

Arran had already noticed this the first time he met her, but now that his insights had grown, he was startled to discover that her strength was even greater than he had realized.

Knights were shockingly strong to begin with, but Arran now understood that this woman was a monster even among Knights. And this terrifying woman was the Knight whose invitation he had spurned.