SERAPHINA'S POV
My eyes snapped open in the darkness, ice already forming on my fingertips.
Something was wrong.
I'd learned to trust my instincts years ago when they saved me from my family's assassins. That cold feeling crawling up my spine never lied. Danger was here. In the castle. Close.
Too close.
I threw off my blankets and grabbed my sword, not bothering with shoes or a robe. Three years protecting Aldric had taught me that hesitation killed people. I sprinted down the hallway toward his chambers, my heart hammering.
Please let me be wrong. Please let him be safe.
But I wasn't wrong. I was never wrong about this.
Aldric's door stood cracked open. He always locked it—I'd made him promise after the second assassination attempt. If it was open, someone had picked the lock.
I didn't knock. Didn't announce myself. I kicked the door so hard it crashed against the wall, ice daggers already flying from my hands toward the shadow standing over Aldric's bed.
The figure moved impossibly fast, dissolving into darkness like smoke. My daggers passed through empty air and shattered against the wall.
"Sera, no!" Aldric's voice, confused and sleepy.
Shadow mage. My blood turned cold. The Veil had sent another one.
I formed an ice barrier between Aldric and the shadows, my magic responding instantly to my fear and fury. "Get behind me!"
"Seraphina, wait—"
"Now, Aldric!" I screamed.
The shadows reformed near the window, and I got my first clear look at the assassin. Young—maybe Aldric's age. Lean and deadly, with hands that gripped weapons like they were extensions of his body. Storm-gray eyes that watched me with a predator's focus.
Eyes I recognized.
My breath caught in my throat. No. Impossible.
"You," I whispered, ice daggers trembling in my hands. "You look like—"
"I know what he looks like," the assassin said quietly. His voice was rough, unused to speaking. "I don't understand it either."
Aldric grabbed my arm, trying to pull me back. "Sera, please listen—"
"I am listening!" I snapped, not taking my eyes off the threat. "I'm listening to my training that says assassins lie. I'm listening to my brain that says this is a trap. I'm listening to every instinct screaming that you're in danger!"
Guards pounded down the hallway. Finally. I'd positioned them too far away tonight, trusting in locked doors and peaceful nights.
Trusting had almost gotten Aldric killed.
"Lady Seraphina!" Captain Marcus burst in with five guards. "What's happening?"
"Assassin," I said flatly. "Shadow mage. Veil trained. Don't let him disappear again."
The guards spread out, surrounding the assassin near the window. He tensed but didn't attack. Didn't try to escape. Just stood there like he was frozen, staring at Aldric with the strangest expression on his face.
Pain. Confusion. Longing.
Like he was looking at something he'd lost and found again.
"Everyone stand down," Aldric ordered, his prince voice firm and commanding. "This is my twin brother, Kael. He's not our enemy."
The words hit me like a physical blow. Twin brother? That was insane. Aldric's twin died eighteen years ago during the massacre. Everyone knew that.
Except...
I looked at the assassin—Kael—again. Really looked. Same height as Aldric. Same build. Same storm-gray eyes, same sharp jawline, same everything. Even the small scar above his left eyebrow that Aldric had always had.
"Gods above," I breathed. "It's true."
"It's a trick," Captain Marcus argued. "The Veil is known for disguises, illusions—"
"No illusion is this perfect," I cut him off. My strategic mind was already racing through possibilities. "This level of similarity... it has to be blood. Has to be real."
Kael's eyes snapped to me, surprised I'd defended him. Good. Let him be off-balance. Let him wonder what I was thinking.
Because what I was thinking was dangerous.
If this boy really was Aldric's twin, stolen as an infant and raised by the Veil, then he was a weapon aimed at everything we'd built. Master Corvus didn't make mistakes. Every move had a purpose.
"Why are you here?" I asked Kael directly. "What's your mission?"
He hesitated, then answered honestly. "To kill Aldric. Make it look like Imperial work. Start a war."
Gasps echoed around the room. Guards raised their weapons higher. Captain Marcus looked ready to attack.
But I noticed something important: Kael had said "to kill," not "I'm going to kill." Past tense. Like the mission was already over.
"And?" I pressed. "Why haven't you?"
Kael's jaw clenched. "Because when I saw his face... my face... everything I believed shattered. Master Corvus lied to me. About everything."
The raw pain in his voice made my chest ache. I knew that feeling. When I'd discovered my own family's betrayal, when I'd learned my father sold military secrets that got hundreds of soldiers killed, I'd felt that same gutting realization that your whole life was built on lies.
This boy—this weapon—was breaking in real time.
"Aldric," I said carefully, still watching Kael. "You're sure about this? About him?"
"I'm sure." Aldric stepped around my ice barrier, ignoring my warning hiss. He walked right up to Kael, fearless and stupid and so perfectly like him. "I've dreamed about him my whole life, Sera. I always knew I had a brother. I felt him missing like a piece of my own soul."
"That's not evidence," I argued. "That's emotion."
"Emotion is evidence." Aldric smiled sadly. "You taught me that. You said gut instincts matter in strategy."
Damn him for using my own words against me.
I studied Kael's face again, looking for any sign of deception. But all I saw was a lost boy standing at a crossroads, torn between the only life he'd known and a brother he'd just discovered.
Then his expression changed. Went pale and terrified.
"He knows," Kael gasped. "Master Corvus knows I didn't kill you. He's watching me right now."
Cold dread flooded through me. "Watching how?"
"Magic. A link between master and weapon. He checks on us sometimes." Kael's hands shook. "He knows I failed. He'll come for me. For both of us."
"How long do we have?" I demanded, my mind already calculating defenses, escape routes, battle plans.
"Minutes. Maybe less." Kael looked at Aldric desperately. "You need to run. Get everyone out. Master Corvus doesn't just kill targets—he destroys everything around them as a message."
"I'm not running from my own castle," Aldric said firmly.
"Then you're an idiot!" Kael shouted. "You don't understand what he is. What he can do. The last principality that defied the Veil burned for three days straight. Every man, woman, and child."
The room went silent with horror.
"How many assassins will he send?" Captain Marcus asked grimly.
"All of them," Kael whispered. "Every weapon in the Veil. Because I'm his favorite, his masterpiece. If I betrayed him, he'll make an example that echoes for decades."
My blood turned to ice in my veins. Not from fear—from rage. How dare this Master Corvus think he could threaten my prince? My home? My people?
"Then we fight," I said coldly. "We hold the castle. We protect our prince. And we show the Veil what happens when they underestimate us."
"You can't win," Kael said desperately. "I've trained with these people. I know what they can do. You'll all die."
"Maybe." I formed ice weapons in both hands, my magic responding to my fury. "But we'll die protecting something worth dying for. Can you say the same about the Veil?"
Kael flinched like I'd struck him.
Aldric looked between us, then made a decision that would change everything. He held out his hand to Kael.
"Stay and fight beside me as my brother," he said quietly. "Or run and spend your life as his slave. Choose, Kael. Right now. Because in five minutes, the Veil will be coming for both of us."
Kael stared at Aldric's outstretched hand like it was a lifeline and a death sentence combined.
Then, from somewhere in the darkness outside, a bell began to toll.
Once. Twice. Three times.
The attack bell.
"They're already here," I breathed.
And in the distance, I heard the first screams.