SERAPHINA'S POV
The screams were getting closer.
"Barricade the doors!" I shouted at the guards. "Now!"
But I didn't move from between Aldric and Kael. Twin brother or not, that assassin still had weapons and eighteen years of Veil training. Until I knew for certain whose side he was on, he was a threat.
"Sera, please—" Aldric started.
"No." My ice magic flared brighter, colder. "We don't have time for trust exercises. People are dying downstairs."
More screams. Closer now. The attack bell kept ringing, desperate and frantic.
Kael's face had gone completely white. "They're already inside the castle. That's impossible. It took me three days to plan infiltration, and I'm the best—" He stopped, understanding hitting him like a punch. "Unless Corvus was watching me the whole time. Learning the weaknesses I found."
"You led them here," I said flatly.
"I didn't mean to!" Real anguish cracked through his controlled mask. "I didn't know he was watching that closely. I thought I had more time before—"
An explosion rocked the castle. Windows shattered. Guards shouted in panic.
"South tower!" Captain Marcus yelled. "They're coming from the south tower!"
That was where we kept our weapons stored. If the Veil controlled that position, we'd lost our biggest advantage.
My mind raced through battle strategies. We had forty guards total. The Veil could have sent anywhere from five to fifty assassins. Unknown enemy numbers, unknown positions, and they'd already breached our defenses.
We were going to lose.
Unless—
I looked at Kael. Really looked at him. At the way he held his weapons like extensions of his body. At how his eyes tracked every sound, every movement, calculating threats automatically. At the shadows that literally clung to him like living pets, ready to hide or attack on his command.
He was a weapon. The Veil's masterpiece.
And weapons could be pointed in different directions.
"How many assassins did Corvus send?" I demanded.
Kael's jaw clenched. "I don't know. But if he's making an example, probably twenty. Maybe more."
"What are their abilities? What magic?"
"Why are you—"
"Answer me!" I snapped. "You said we can't win. Prove it. Tell me exactly what we're facing so I know how badly we're about to die."
Understanding flickered in his storm-gray eyes. He was smart. Good.
"Four shadow mages like me," he said quickly. "Three fire elementals who can burn through stone. Two earth mages who'll collapse the foundations. Five water elementals to drown anyone who runs. The rest are normal assassins—but normal for the Veil means they've each killed at least twenty people."
My blood went cold. We were so far beyond outmatched it was almost funny.
"How do we beat them?" Aldric asked.
Kael shook his head. "You don't. You run."
"Not an option." I formed ice daggers in both hands. "If we run, they hunt us down one by one. If we fight here, we at least control the terrain."
Another explosion. This one shook dust from the ceiling. Someone was screaming about fire spreading through the west wing.
"They're herding us," Kael said suddenly. "Classic Veil tactic. Fire in the west, collapse the south, force everyone toward the east entrance where they'll have assassins waiting."
"Then we don't go east," I said.
"There's nowhere else to go!"
"Yes there is." I looked at Aldric. "The old tunnels under the castle. Your ancestors built them for sieges."
Aldric's eyes widened. "The tunnels have been sealed for years. We don't even know if they're still safe."
"Safer than staying here." I turned back to Kael. "You have a choice right now. Help us escape, or watch your brother die in the next ten minutes. Which is it?"
Kael stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "You're asking me to betray the only family I've ever known."
"No." Aldric stepped forward, ignoring my warning hiss. "I'm asking you to save the only family you were born into. The one that was stolen from you."
"I don't even know you!"
"Then get to know me." Aldric's voice was steady despite the chaos. "I promise you, whatever Corvus told you about family was a lie. Real family doesn't hurt you. Doesn't make you a weapon. Real family loves you even when you fail."
Kael's hands shook so badly his blade clattered to the floor. The sound echoed in the room like a bell.
"I don't know how to be anything except a weapon," he whispered.
Something in my chest cracked. I'd said almost those exact words after my father's arrest. When I'd thought being a strategist, being useful, was the only way to deserve existence.
Aldric had taught me different. Had shown me that people had value just by being people.
Maybe this broken assassin needed the same lesson.
"Then learn," I said, softer now. "Help us survive tonight, and Aldric will teach you. That's what he does—turns broken people into family."
Kael looked between us, lost and desperate and so young despite his deadly skills. Then he bent down and picked up his blade.
For a horrible second, I thought he'd attack.
Instead, he turned it around and offered the handle to Aldric.
"I'll get you out," he said quietly. "But if we survive this, I want answers. Real answers about who I am. Who I was supposed to be."
"Deal." Aldric took the blade, then immediately handed it back. "Now tell us how to reach those tunnels without dying."
Kael's tactical mind took over instantly. "The Veil expects you to panic, to scatter. We do the opposite. We group up, move as one unit, use their own herding tactic against them."
"Explain," I ordered.
"They're pushing everyone east. So we go east—but not through the main corridor where they're waiting. We go through the servant passages. Narrow spaces where their numbers don't matter. Then we loop back around to wherever these tunnels are."
It was risky. Insane, even.
It was also our only chance.
"Captain Marcus," I called. "Gather everyone still alive. Servants, guards, everyone. We evacuate through the servant passages in three minutes."
"Yes, my lady." He ran out, shouting orders.
I turned to Kael. "If you're lying, if this is a trap, I will freeze your heart while it's still beating. Understand?"
"Understood." He met my eyes steadily. "But I'm not lying. Not anymore."
"Good." I started toward the door, then stopped. "One more question. Can Corvus track you through that magic link?"
Kael's face went pale. "Yes. Always."
"Then he knows exactly where you are right now. Knows you're helping us."
"Which means he'll focus everything on this room," Aldric realized with horror. "We're not just escaping. We're the main target now."
Kael nodded slowly. "If Corvus can't have me as his weapon, he'll make sure nobody else does either. He'll send his best assassin to kill me."
"Who's his best?" I demanded.
Kael's expression was answer enough even before he spoke.
"Her name is Raven. She's a shadow mage like me, but older. More experienced. More..." He swallowed hard. "More everything. She taught me half of what I know. And she's never failed a mission."
"Can you beat her?" Aldric asked.
"No." Kael's voice was flat, certain. "Nobody can beat Raven. That's why Corvus keeps her in reserve. She's his solution to impossible problems."
The temperature in the room dropped as my ice magic responded to my fear. "And she's coming here. Right now."
"Yes."
"How long do we have?"
Kael tilted his head, listening to sounds I couldn't hear. Then his eyes widened with pure terror.
"None," he breathed. "She's already—"
The window exploded inward in a spray of glass and shadow.
A figure materialized from the darkness—tall, graceful, and absolutely lethal. A woman with silver hair and eyes like black holes, wearing darkness like a second skin.
She looked at Kael with something that might have been sadness if she were capable of emotions.
"Hello, little brother," Raven said softly. "I'm so disappointed in you."
Then she attacked.