Jade Ashborn had survived the Maze by logic, instinct, and sheer ferocity, never knowing she was a witch until the moment Dumbledore’s magic pulled her out of a turning corridor and into the Great Hall, where she landed on her feet before the four Houses with the same steady focus she used to face Grievers. Professors whispered about the girl who’d lived years without magic in an apocalyptic labyrinth yet adapted to Hogwarts as swiftly as she read the Maze, and the Slytherins immediately recognized the ambition behind her sharp, assessing gaze. But no one watched her more closely than Tom Riddle—intrigued by the survivor who couldn’t be intimidated, who met his charm with cold logic, and whose hidden power simmered with a potential that, he realized, might one day rival his own.