"Nyra!" Rei's voice cuts through the shadows. She and Jace appear from the side of the corridor, weapons half-drawn, eyes wild.
The second Rei sees me, she exhales hard, relief washing across her face. Jace follows close behind, gaze darting from me to Kael like he's piecing together something dangerous.
"You're alive," Rei says, moving straight to me, her hand grazing my arm like he needs to feel I'm real.
Footsteps- we paused.
Not ours.
Not safe.
Kael's head snapped toward the corridor to the right, posture shifting—battle-ready in a breath. "Someone's coming," he muttered.
Rei and Jace turned sharply behind me. But Kael was already moving.
"Come on," he hissed, grabbing my arm and pressing us back into the shadowed alcove of the crumbling corridor wall. Rei and Jace followed instinctively, flattening behind me just as the echo of boots grew louder—calm, authoritative, wrong.
The silhouette appeared—tall, broad, black coat dusted with ash and silver rank markings glinting faintly in the dim. A council officer.
Kael stepped out before any of us could move, planting himself directly in the intruder's path.
The man halted.
"Kael?" His voice was clipped, surprised. "You're supposed to be in the meeting room. What the hell are you doing down here?"
Kael didn't flinch. Didn't blink. "Command rerouted me. Said I was to check on a relay failure in Subsector D."
The officer's eyes narrowed. "Funny. They told me to investigate. Said someone else was already moving through this zone unauthorized."
Kael tilted his head, casual in a way that could cut glass. "Maybe they're testing initiative."
The man didn't laugh.
He took a step closer. "You see anyone?"
My hand twitched toward the blade at my thigh. Jace shifted beside me, breath held. Rei's fingers ghosted toward her pulse grenade, jaw tight.
Kael didn't move.
"They sent me alone for a reason," he said, voice steady, calm. Too calm. "You really think anyone else would dare sneak through Council surveillance? Unless you're implying I triggered the alert?"
The man raised a brow. "You're one of our best, Kael. But don't pretend you're untouchable. Even gold rusts."
There was a long pause.
Kael's voice dropped, a warning hidden behind every syllable. "Then check the next sector. Unless you're planning to accuse me formally."
The man held Kael's stare a moment longer.
Then scoffed. "Fine. But don't think I won't be reporting this. If anything's off down here…" His gaze lingered, searching. "You'll answer for it."
Kael didn't respond. The man turned, boots echoing again as he stalked off into the opposite corridor, muttering into his comms.
The moment his footsteps faded into silence, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
Kael turned back toward us.
"Move," he snapped, but not harshly. Urgently.
We fell into step, darting down the opposite hall. My heart still thundered in my chest, adrenaline crashing like waves. Jace cursed under his breath.
Rei glanced at Kael. "You just lied to a Council officer. That could've gotten you executed."
Kael didn't break stride. "You're welcome."
Jace scoffed. "And here I thought the golden boy didn't bend."
Kael glanced back, locking eyes with me as he said, "Depends on who's worth bending for."
I looked away too fast. My fingers brushed the edge of the Vireya pendant beneath my dress
And now? A reason to run harder.
Because the Council was hunting shadows in the dark.
And I was one of them.
.
.
Kael led the way, boots silent on the fractured stone, every movement calculated, swift. We weaved through collapsed archways, down a stairwell half-choked with vines and dust, into the hollow bones of Vaelrin's forgotten sector. The air grew colder, tighter—like the city itself was swallowing us whole.
"No one patrols this path," Kael said without looking back. "Council thinks it collapsed during the last quake. It didn't. It leads past the surveillance line. From there, you can loop west, back into neutral ground."
Jace blew out a breath. "You sure about that?"
Kael gave him a side glance. "Do you want to test me?"
"Not particularly," Rei muttered. "But I'd still like to know how the Council's hound suddenly became our underground guide."
I glanced at Kael. He didn't answer. Just kept moving. And we followed.
The corridor eventually opened into a narrow passage—low ceiling, lined with rusted pipes and broken tiles. It smelled of iron and rain and time. Kael stopped just short of a reinforced exit grate, punching a code into the small, blinking panel hidden behind a chunk of displaced wall.
It hissed open.
"This is where we split," he said, finally turning to face us. "Out there, you'll be safe. You can vanish into the sector crowds and no one will clock you as intruders."
Rei stared at him. "And what about you?"
"I go back. Cover your tracks."
Jace raised a brow. "You sure you want to lie twice to the Council tonight?"
Kael gave him a slow, unreadable look. "I'm used to doing things I shouldn't."
Then his eyes locked with mine.
He stepped a little closer, and even though the air was cool, I felt heat climb my spine.
"Don't come back here," he said, voice quiet, weighty. "Not to this level. Not again."
I swallowed. "You giving me orders now?"
He tilted his head slightly. "I'm warning you. You got lucky tonight. Next time? You might not be the only one watching."
Rei shifted beside me. Jace looked between us, brow twitching with something close to suspicion—or understanding.
Kael's eyes flicked to the chain barely visible beneath the torn edge of my collar.
The pendant.
I quickly tucked it away.
He saw.
But said nothing.
His gaze lingered a heartbeat longer—then turned, stepping into the shadows behind the wall just as the door slid closed.
Gone.
Just like that.
The silence that followed was almost louder than the escape itself.
Rei muttered, "Well, that was… something."
Jace shot me a look. "You sure you still hate him?"
I didn't answer.
Because in that moment, I wasn't sure of anything.
Except the heat still lingering on my skin where Kael's words had brushed too close.
.
.
.