Kael's legs shook beneath him, the pain of his wounds drawing him down to the ground, but he couldn't fall. Blood welled up around his boots and spread through the wet, dark alley to become a crimson nightmare.His breath panted out in rough gasps, his sword a dead weight in his hand, screaming from every inch of his body, his muscles protesting in sheer defiance. But he wasn't done yet. Not when more death was closing in.The footsteps came faster now, a cacophony of boots hitting the wet cobblestones, and Kael's eyes darted around the alley. The figures emerged from the shadows, their silhouettes black and predatory, their movements deliberate, as though they knew their prey was weak, already at the brink.Kael's heart thudded in his chest. His fingers tightened around his sword as he stumbled into a defensive stance, though every muscle in his body screamed at him to lie down and die."Where's your savior now, Kael?" one of the figures sneered, his voice rough with amusement. "Isn'

The first thing that Kael felt was pain.A low, searing pain pulsated from his sternum; his body groaned in dread as if he were melting into blackness.His ears buzzed, a dull, choking hum, the sound of everything else drowning out. Was he dead?No.The hurt was too genuine, too piercing.His heartbeat, though weak and steady, thumped against his skull like a drum of war, pulling him back from the edge of the void.Then came the cold.Something slick and wet was pressed against his skin, the unmistakable chill of stone underneath his back.He struggled to open his eyes, but the world swirled in reds and blacks.Torchlight flickered, casting the dancing shadows in shapes too grotesque for his frazzled mind.He attempted to shift, but a wave of pain washed over him, and a jagged gasp fell from his throat.He was alive but barely.A voice broke from the fog of his thoughts, low and laced with muted humor."You should be dead."Kael’s pulse spiked. He knew that voice.Knew it the way he k

Kael’s world was one of fire and blood.Agony pulsed from his side, the wound deep and searing, but he wouldn’t quit.He was panting as he ran, his legs felt like lead.The heat of the blasts licking behind him, smoke curling in his lungs.Selene ran alongside him, darting through the collapsing ruins as her body shifted in and out of his line of sight, everything a blur of speed and accuracy around them.The final echoing crash of the collapse of the archive chamber shook the ground and rain darkness and death of embers and rubble into the sky.Kael didn’t look back.Dain was gone. Mined under rock and flame.Yet as he fled the wreckage of Shadowborne Estate, doubt tinged the corners of his mind.Was it truly over? Had Dain the brother who had survived each of the impossible trials, each of the assassination attempts, each of the betrayals really died with such ease?No.Dain was a monster.And monsters did not die in darkness.They waited.They watched.They came back.Kael set his

Kael's blade: the cold steel felt heavier than it ought to.Blood loss, fatigue, and Dain’s presence sat heavily on him like an iron yoke.On the other side of the clearing, his brother stood with the easy confidence of someone who had already won.His armor, cracked and stained with dried gore, glimmered in the fractured moonlight.The assassins at his sides, silent wraiths dressed in shadowsteel, had formed a wall of killers, blades gleaming like fangs.Kael’s body was screaming at him to run.But there was nowhere to go.“Dain stepped forward, slow and deliberate. Predatory.“You look like hell, little brother.” His voice was velvet over a dagger’s edge.“Did you really think it would end like this? You could quickly burn the past and walk away unscathed? ”Kael didn’t answer.And he tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword.Dain sighed, pretending to be disappointed.“I thought you always were the naive one.” He gestured languidly to the ruins outside.“This fire, you thoug

A sliver of silver moon hung low in the ink-black sky.Ash choked the air above the remains of Shadowborne Estate, embers still crackling as the figures of Kael, Selene, and Dain vanished into the trees.The wounds were still fresh and their bodies ached, but they had no time for pain.The Hollow Blades were dead, but the real hunt had only just begun.They moved quietly, soft-footed over the sodden earth, sliding like phantoms between the contorted trees. A sanctuary lay ahead, hidden in the mountains where it melded into the peak, a crumbling watchtower an era ago, back when this was a Shadowborne hangout.Kael’s mind raced. The Black Sigil.That name held weight, spoken only in hushed warnings.If they wanted the Shadowborne exterminated, then this was more than just a bounty.This was a war.Dain groaned next to him, his bloodied hand against his side.His trademark cocky smirk was gone, replaced by grim determination.“How bad?” Kael asked under his breath.Dain scoffed. “It hurt