"The city never truly slept; it only shifted, trading the chaos of daylight for the hushed, watchful silence of the night.". Even at the dead of night, its heart beat with whispers, footsteps, and unseen eyes watching from the shadows. After the ambush in the warehouse, I could not shake the feeling that something—or someone—had been waiting for us.
Selene, Kael, and I regrouped in the courtyard, our breaths heavy, our bodies bruised. Lantern light flickered across Selene's face, sharpening her features into something almost inhuman. Kael leaned against the wall, his scar catching the dim glow, his eyes cold and calculating.
"'We were expected,' Selene muttered, her tone sharp with unease, eyes scanning the shadows as if the city itself had been waiting for us." "That ambush wasn't a chance. Someone gave us away."
Her words sank deep into me. Betrayal. It was inevitable in a place like this, but the realization still struck like a A blade twists in my chest.. We had only just begun to ally, and already cracks were appearing.
Kael spat to the side, his expression hard. "There are only three of us who knew of tonight's plan."
His eyes flicked between us—first Selene, then me.
"I felt a shiver of fear, excitement, or cold.". He was assessing us, testing our resolve.
Selene didn't flinch. Her voice was sharp, cutting."Without me, you wouldn't have survived even half of what you faced." the fights you've crawled through."
Kael shrugged, his tone casual but laced with venom. "Everyone has a price. Don't pretend you're above survival."
I remained silent, my mind racing. Could it have been Selene? Her knowledge, her precision, her ability to slip through shadows—she could easily have made a deal, ensured her own safety by offering us as bait. And yet… part of me didn't believe it.
But if it wasn't her, then who?
Kael's gaze turned to me, piercing, unrelenting. "And what about you, Lysandra?"His voice was low and filled with danger."You're the newcomer. The one who conveniently survived an execution, no one ever survives. Maybe you're the council's little pet project. Maybe you're here to lead us into traps while playing innocent."
His words burned. I wanted to shout back, to deny it, to prove myself—but the truth was, I had no way to defend myself. Everything about me was suspicious. My survival, my sudden knowledge, even the fact that I wasn't really Lysandra at all.
Selene stepped forward, placing herself between Kael and me. "Enough," she snapped. "We don't have the luxury of tearing each other apart. Whoever betrayed us is still out there, and they're watching."
Kael's eyes narrowed, but he backed off, crossing his arms.
The silence felt heavy and suffocating, stretching on endlessly. Finally, Selene turned to me. "We need proof. We need to know who's feeding information to the council. And until then, trust no one—not even us."
Her words were both a warning and a truth I had already begun to accept. Trust was a luxury, and in this world, luxuries were fatal.
The following days merged into a fog of confusion, tension, and suspicion. Selene drilled me in observation, forcing me to notice the smallest details: the shift of a guard's weight, the flicker of a lantern, the faintest whisper of movement in an alley. Kael, meanwhile, tested my resolve in harsher ways—throwing me into sudden fights, pushing me until my muscles screamed, demanding I prove I was not dead weight.
Every lesson was survival wrapped in suspicion. Every glance felt like judgment. I could not rest.
And then, one night, the betrayal revealed itself.
We had arranged a simple mission: intercept a courier carrying documents from the council. Kael's plan was precise—strike at the bridge crossing before dawn, seize the papers, vanish before reinforcements arrived. Simple, clean, effective.
But nothing in this city was ever simple.
We lay in wait, hidden among the shadows of crumbling stone. The night air was cold, heavy with the smell of the river below. I could hear my own heartbeat, the steady rhythm of anticipation. Selene crouched beside me, dagger in hand. She kep her eye focuse on the road. Kael was further ahead, signaling the moment to strike.
The courier approached—a lone rider, cloaked, moving with practiced caution. Everything seemed as expected. But then—
Shouts. Torches flared to life.
Dozens of guards erupted from the shadows on either side of the bridge, far more than any courier should have required. Their blades glinted in the moonlight, their formation tight, their eyes scanning directly toward where we hid.
"It's a trap," Selene hissed.
Kael cursed under his breath, his scarred face twisting with rage. "They knew."
The air shattered into chaosArrows whistled through the night.I dove to the ground as one embedded itself into the stone inches from my face. Selene leapt forward, striking down the first guard who lunged toward her. Kael fought with ruthless efficiency, his dagger finding weak spots in armor as though he had rehearsed it a thousand times.
I scrambled to my feet, every instinct screaming at me to fight or flee. Chains of fear tightened around my chest, but I forced myself to breathe, to move, to act. My blade met steel, sparks flying as I barely deflected a strike meant for my throat.
We fought like trapped animals, desperate, savage. But there were too many. For every guard we cut down, two more closed in.
"Fall back!" Selene shouted.
We stumbled toward the riverbank, bloodied and battered. The guards pressed closer, their shouts echoing through the night.
And then, in the midst of chaos, I saw it.
Kael.
He wasn't fighting to escape. He was directing the guards—subtle gestures, guiding them, positioning them to cut us off. the briefest moment, I saw it: betrayal, cold and deliberate.
My blood ran cold.
"Selene!" I screamed. "It's him!"
Her eyes snapped toward Kael, and for the first time, I saw something rare in her expression—shock.
Kael smirked, a cruel twist of his lips. "You're quicker than I thought," he said, steel. "But not quick enough."
Rage surged through me. The ambush at the warehouse. The suspicion he had planted. The way he had pushed me, tested me, made me doubt myself and Selene. It had all been part of his game.
The guards closed in. Kael raised his dagger, not against them—but against us.
I didn't think. I didn't question. We hurled ourselves into the river below, the icy water swallowing us whole. Arrows rained down, slicing through the surface as we sank into darkness.
The current dragged me, tearing me away from Selene's grasp. My lungs screamed for air, my body thrashed, and for a terrifying moment, I thought I would drown. But then, I broke the surface, gasping, coughing, clawing my way to the muddy bank.
Selene emerged moments later, her face pale, her eyes blazing with fury.
Kael was gone. The guards were searching the banks above, their torches cutting through the night.
But all I could think about was his smirk. His betrayal.
We had trusted him. And he had delivered us straight into the council's hands.
Selene's voice was low, trembling with controlled rage. "We'll kill him," she vowed. "I do not care what it take. Kael dies."
I stared at her, my chest heaving, my mind torn between fear and determination.
Kael had betrayed us. The council was closing in.
And in this city of shadows, I had learned one truth above all else:
Trust was dead.
Only survival remained