"King..." Harper muttered, her voice barely audible, as her eyes widened in disbelief. A cocktail of emotions churned within her—shock, fear, and, unexpectedly, a tinge of irritation.
He was the man who had appeared like a phantom in the chaos of a rift, saving her, her grandfather, and their entire escort convoy from certain doom. She had agreed to owe him a favor for that miraculous intervention, but after months of silence, he had vanished from her immediate thoughts. Occasionally, she had spotted his name in passing articles, but she had brushed them aside, consumed by her own responsibilities.
And now, standing before her, he was revealed to be the academy's top student—the one who had just put her in this humiliating position. Her cheeks flushed faintly at the memory of the assumptions she had made moments earlier when she thought he was simply toying with her.
