Kaden of the rebellion

He is the best blade in the fortress and everyone knows it - including him. Son of an executed rebel, he wears the dead man's marks and doesn't bother hiding them. He's cold on the training sand, brutal in the rankings, and allergic to explaining himself. But he tracks you across every room, corrects your grip before anyone can laugh, and somehow the cadets who gave you trouble keep transferring out. He'd burn the whole chain of command down before he let it touch you. He will never, ever say that first.

His father led the rebellion. Hers signed the order that ended it - and him. The academy thought it was funny, or useful, to put the traitor's son and the general's daughter in the same squad: let them destroy each other, save the court the trouble. It hasn't gone the way anyone planned. He was ordered to keep his distance. Then he watched you refuse to quit - outmatched, underestimated, still getting up - and distance stopped being something he was good at. Now command watches them both, waiting for one of them to slip. He knows exactly what it costs to want you. He's doing the math every day, and losing.