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TWENTY-SIX

KAEL

K ael knew they were being hunted long before he saw the first shadow shift behind the trees.

It was in the air. The way it moved—too quiet, too cold. The way Selene’s pulse quickened against his palm as he gripped her hand tighter. Her Veilwalker senses, still raw and burning from what she’d done, were likely already screaming.

His were worse because Kael knew who the bastards were.

Varyn’s dogs.

“Four of them,” he muttered, eyes scanning the forest edge. “Maybe more. Close.”

Selene didn’t ask how he knew.

Kael was born for this terrain, blood of wolves and warriors in equal parts.

But the rustle of leather, the faint scent of iron and shadow that clung to the air like mold—he knew it all too well.

Shifter assassins from House Duskthorn. Trained to kill without sound.

Loyal only to Varyn. Silent, efficient, and disposable.

“Your father sent them,” Selene whispered, as if reading his mind.

Kael’s jaw tightened. “No. My father let Varyn send them.”

It was a distinction that meant nothing to him now. Because the result was the same: Kael and Selene were running for their lives, and Varyn would gladly paint the trees red with their blood to end it.

And Ruarc would watch it happen with a glass of wine in his hand if that meant keeping order. Keeping control. But Kael also knew that his father would prefer them alive, mainly Selene. And well, that just wasn’t going to happen.

The old bastard likely thought he’d win either way.

If Kael lived, he’d come crawling back broken. If he died, Ruarc could name another heir. Hell, maybe Varyn was even next in line now.

Not fucking happening.

They ran until the trees grew thicker, the ground rising into craggy outcroppings of rock that jutted like bone from the earth. The fog was heavier here, clinging low and dense.

The haunted parts of the forest. A place even wolves hesitated to tread.

“Here,” Kael said, motioning toward a cave mouth half-obscured by moss and stone.

Selene nodded, breath short.

They ducked inside just as the first arrow split the air behind them.

They didn’t have time to prepare. Kael shoved Selene behind him and drew his blade, eyes flashing gold. He could hear the assassins approaching—soft, coordinated steps designed to mimic animal movement.

But he’d hunted worse in pitch black. He was worse in pitch black.

The first assassin entered with barely a whisper of motion. Kael was already moving.

Steel met steel in a clash of sparks. The assassin’s blade was curved and blackened with poison—Varyn’s signature filth. Kael parried, drove a shoulder into the man’s chest, and slammed him into the stone wall with a sickening crunch.

Another came from the left.

Kael ducked the blade, kicked his leg out, and pivoted into a clean decapitation. He turned, but the third was already on Selene.

She screamed—sharp, more from effort than fear—and raised both hands.

The air rippled. Time stuttered. And the world split open.

For a second, Kael saw through her. Saw stars. Saw other realms.

The assassin froze mid-strike, mouth open, eyes wide. And then he disintegrated, turned to ash and shadow in a blink.

Kael stared. Selene dropped to her knees.

“Selene!” he shouted, catching her before she hit the ground.

Her skin was hot. Her eyes wild. Veins shimmered silver for a heartbeat before dimming.

“I’m fine,” she gasped. “I just—it’s harder now. After the last time.”

“You're not fine,” he growled. “You just melted a man into dust.”

She laughed weakly. “He had it coming.”

Kael didn’t smile this time.

The last assassin hadn’t moved. Not frozen by fear. Watching.

And when Kael stepped forward, that man smiled. Slow. Crooked. Like he knew something Kael didn’t.

“Run,” he said. And vanished.

They didn’t sleep that night.

Kael found a sheltered ridge deeper in the woods, away from the corpse-stained cave and the rot left behind.

Selene slept in fits. He held her anyway. Because something in her had changed. And something in him was breaking. Not just from the betrayal of his father. Or from what the assassin had meant with his cruel smile. But from the fear that no matter how strong she was, this would kill her.

Or change her into something even the Veil wouldn’t recognize.