Keal rode back into the village with a tired body but a hopeful heart. The mission had been brutal — days of hiding, watching Vyoma, a dangerous Kara operative who never stayed in one place for long. But somehow, he had done it. He had the information his village needed.
And now, all he wanted was her.
He didn't go to the barracks. He didn't report to the council. He didn't even stop to rest. His feet carried him straight toward the small house where she lived.
She was there — through the open window, he saw her standing at the table, cutting vegetables. Her hair fell gently across her face as she worked. For a moment, everything felt like before. Warm. Safe. Home.
His heart leapt. Without thinking, Keal began to run. Faster, faster, as if every step would close the distance not just between them, but between the man he had become and the simple life he still longed for.
He burst through the door.
She turned. Their eyes met.
Keal smiled — a wide, honest, almost childlike smile. His arms opened for the embrace he had dreamed of through cold nights and bloody fields.
And then — pain.
A flash of silver. A sudden, sharp heat in his chest.
She had stabbed him.
The knife was still in her hands, trembling, buried deep in his body.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped.
Keal looked down, saw the red soaking through his clothes. But instead of anger, there was only sadness — deep, endless sadness. His arms, weak but still alive with longing, wrapped around her.
He pulled her into a hug.
Blood ran between them, warm, soaking her dress, dripping to the floor. Yet neither of them moved away.
She held him. Maybe out of guilt. Maybe out of habit. Maybe because, for a moment, she remembered who he had been to her — not a soldier, not a hero, not a mistake, but the boy who had once made her feel safe.
Keal's voice broke the silence. It wasn't a scream. It wasn't a question. It was a truth he had carried in his chest far longer than any knife.
"People never change," he whispered, a faint smile crossing his lips. "They just… learn how to hide it better."
And with that, the warmth between them turned cold.