Kael POV
Corvin and Lyria left to scout the perimeter an hour ago.
I watched them disappear into the darkness and felt something in my chest tighten. They were leaving me alone with Kai on purpose. They wanted this to happen. Wanted me to be the one to tell her the truth.
I wasn't ready.
But I was running out of time.
She was sitting by the fire when I decided I couldn't run anymore. Just staring into the flames like they held answers. Like the tomorrow we were rushing toward was written in the ash and embers.
I sat down next to her without being invited.
"Tell me the truth," she said, not looking at me. "Who hired you for this job?"
My hands clenched. She'd been asking harder questions over the past few days. Getting closer to understanding that something wasn't adding up.
I could lie. I was good at lying. Lying had kept me alive for seven years.
But I was tired of lying to her.
"Someone with a grudge," I said.
"Against who?"
"The royal family."
She went very still. I felt her body tense beside me.
"Why does the royal family matter?" she asked carefully. "We're just hunting a weapon."
"Are we?" I said.
She turned to look at me then. Really looked at me. And I could see the intelligence in her eyes. The way she was starting to piece things together.
I looked at her face in the firelight. At the strength she'd built over these past weeks. At the person she was becoming. At the girl I'd trained to survive becoming a woman who was starting to understand there were depths she hadn't explored yet.
"The weapon matters because of what it can do," I said. "Not what most people think."
"What do most people think?"
"That it's just a sword. Just a tool for fighting," I said. "But it's more than that. It channels ancient magic. Magic that's powerful enough to destroy kingdoms."
Her breath caught. "Destroy them how?"
"There's a reason the royal families have kept the truth about the Sunblade hidden," I continued. "There's a reason only certain bloodlines can wield it. It's not just power. It's the power to end things. To burn away empires like they're nothing."
"Who would want to destroy a kingdom?" she asked quietly.
I didn't answer. Couldn't answer. Not yet.
But I was thinking about the job. About the girl sitting next to me who had no idea what she actually was. About the fact that in less than twenty-four hours, everything was going to unravel. She was going to touch that blade. The blade was going to recognize her blood. And Corvin was going to tell her the truth.
And I was going to have to face what I'd agreed to do.
"Someone who has nothing left to lose," I finally said.
She was quiet for a long time.
"Is that why Corvin hired you?" she asked. "Because you have nothing left to lose?"
"Partly," I said. "Someone wanted protection. Someone wanted a weapon. Someone wanted to make sure the Sunblade got retrieved and brought to the right place."
"And you agreed because?"
"Because I was offered something I couldn't refuse," I said. "Information. About what happened seven years ago. About why my family is dead."
The words hung between us like something physical.
"Your family?" she whispered.
I hadn't meant to tell her that. Had meant to keep that part hidden. But she was pulling truth out of me like she was magic herself.
"Forget I said that," I told her.
"I'm not forgetting anything," she said. "You're telling me pieces of the truth but not the whole thing. You're telling me enough to make me understand that your reasons for being here are complicated."
"My reasons are my own," I said.
"Are they?" she asked. "Or are your reasons tied to the royal family somehow? Connected to this job in ways that have nothing to do with finding the Sunblade?"
I stood up. Needed to move. Needed to put distance between her and the truth because the closer I was to her, the harder it was to remember that I had a mission. That I had promises I'd made to people I'd lost.
"Kael," she said, standing up too. "Tell me what I need to know. Tell me what's happening tomorrow that's going to change everything."
"You're going to touch the blade," I said. "And the blade is going to respond to you. And you're going to understand things about yourself that you weren't ready to understand before."
"What things?"
"Things about where you come from," I said. "Things about what you are."
She stepped closer to me. "What am I?"
I could tell her. Could just say the words. Princess. Royal. The one person in the world who shouldn't be here with me.
But I didn't. Instead, I pulled her against me and held on like if I let go, she'd disappear.
"You're the person I've been trying to protect since the moment I met you," I said into her hair. "You're the person I'd burn this entire world down to keep safe. And you're the person who's going to hate me once you know why I'm really here."
She pulled back to look at me.
"I won't hate you," she said. "Whatever this is, whatever secrets you're keeping, I won't hate you for it."
"Yes, you will," I said. "Because you're good. And I'm not. And tomorrow you're going to understand the difference."
She reached up and touched my face. Traced one of my scars with her finger.
"Then tell me now," she said. "Tell me everything now so I have time to understand before tomorrow comes."
I wanted to. God, I wanted to. Wanted to unload everything I'd been carrying for years. The rage. The grief. The mission that was slowly destroying me from the inside out.
But before I could speak, we heard it.
A sound from deeper in the forest. Not Corvin and Lyria returning. Something else. Something wrong.
Horses. Multiple horses. Moving toward us fast.
I pushed Kai behind me immediately and drew my sword.
"Stay back," I said.
The mercenaries were already moving. Weapons being grabbed. Positions being taken. Corvin and Lyria appeared from the darkness, and I could see on their faces that they'd heard it too.
The horses came into view.
Not Valorian soldiers. Not palace guards.
Worse.
The banner they carried was silver and black. The royal colors of the Valorian Empire. And the rider at the front was someone I'd hoped never to see again.
Prince Valen.
And he was smiling like he'd been expecting us all along.
"Well, well," Valen called out, his voice carrying across the clearing. "I was wondering when you'd bring me the princess. Well done, Kael. I knew I could rely on you."
My entire body went cold.
Kai looked at me. I could feel her staring. Could feel her understanding that something was very, very wrong.
"What is he talking about?" she said. Her voice was small. Uncertain.
Valen laughed. "You didn't tell her? Kael, I'm disappointed. You were hired to protect her, deliver her to the tomb, and make sure she activated the blade. Then you were supposed to bring her to me. Alive. So I could take her kingdom."
"That's not what's happening," I said, but my voice sounded hollow even to me.
Kai stepped away from me. I watched her face change. Watched her understand.
"You were hired to protect me," she said slowly. "And something else. Something you haven't told me."
"Kai—" I started.
"Tell me," she said. Her voice was steady but her hands were shaking. "Tell me the rest of the job."
I couldn't lie to her anymore. Not now. Not with Valen watching us and everything falling apart.
"I was hired to deliver you to Valorian after we retrieved the blade," I said. "To make sure you reached Valen alive so he could use you as leverage against your kingdom."
The pain on her face was like a blade through my chest.
"And the first part?" she asked. "Protecting me during the journey?"
I didn't answer. Because the answer was that I was supposed to kill her once the blade was retrieved. That I was supposed to eliminate the one witness who could tie everything back to Valen's plan. That I was supposed to bury her in the forest and never tell anyone what I'd done.
That I was supposed to be the person who destroyed her.
"Kael," Valen called out. "Step aside. Let's finish this."
I looked at Kai. At the girl I'd trained and fought for and held in the darkness when she couldn't sleep.
At the princess I'd been hired to destroy.
And I made a choice that would end one life or save another. A choice that would betray everyone or save the only thing that mattered.
I raised my sword toward Valen.
"No," I said.
And everything exploded into violence and fire and the sound of weapons clashing as my entire past came roaring back to devour us all.