[Sera's POV]
Time stopped.
Guild Master Mordain stood in the center of Kael's bedroom, made of living shadow and malice. Glass from the shattered windows glittered on the floor around him like fallen stars. His dead black eyes moved from me to Kael and back again.
"How touching," he said, his voice like silk over razors. "The twins reunited at last. Did you enjoy your little bonding moment? The healing magic? The dramatic rescue from shadow consciousness?" His smile widened. "I felt every second of it through the blood bond I placed on you, Sera. Did you forget? I own a piece of your soul."
My birthmark burned. Not the warm glow from connecting with Kael—this was the old pain. The reminder that Mordain had marked me as property before I could even walk.
Kael moved in front of me, lightning crackling around his hands. "Get out of my palace."
"Your palace?" Mordain laughed. "Child, I was killing kings before your parents were born. This building is just stone and mortar. It means nothing to me." His shadow form rippled. "But you—you mean quite a lot. You're the loose end I should have eliminated eighteen years ago."
"You can try," Kael said. Lightning built to dangerous levels, turning his hands into contained storms. "But I'm not the helpless infant you remember."
"No, you're much more useful now. Powerful. Important. Loved." Mordain's tone turned mocking. "The people's prince. The revolutionary. The boy who thinks he can change the world." He glanced at me. "Tell him, Sera. Tell him what happens to people who think they're special."
My voice wouldn't work. Eighteen years of conditioning screamed at me to obey. To answer when Mordain spoke. To be the perfect weapon he created.
But Kael's hand found mine and squeezed. The bond flared—warm, solid, real.
"She doesn't answer to you anymore," Kael said quietly. "Neither of us do."
Mordain's pleasant expression vanished. Pure fury replaced it—the kind of rage that had killed dozens of Guild orphans who dared disobey.
"Is that so?" His shadow form expanded, filling half the room. "Then let me remind you both of reality."
He moved faster than should be possible. One moment he was across the room. The next, his shadow-wrapped hand had me by the throat, lifting me off the ground.
"SERA!" Kael unleashed his lightning, but it passed harmlessly through Mordain's shadow body.
"Pathetic," Mordain hissed. "Light and lightning are useless against pure shadow. You may have power, boy, but you lack knowledge." He squeezed my throat tighter. "And your sister? She's already mine. Watch."
He pressed his other hand to my chest, directly over my heart. Dark magic flooded into me—the blood bond activating with full force. Pain exploded through every nerve. My own shadow magic turned against me, responding to Mordain's command instead of my will.
"Stop!" Kael screamed. "You're killing her!"
"I'm reminding her who she belongs to." Mordain's dead eyes bored into mine. "You failed your mission, Sera. You betrayed me. You chose him over your Guild. Over your master. Over the only family you've ever known. And now you'll pay the price."
The blood bond tightened like a noose around my heart. My vision went dark around the edges. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't—
Suddenly, Kael was there. Not attacking Mordain—attacking the bond itself. His light magic poured into me, bright and burning, trying to sever the connection between my soul and Mordain's curse.
"Get away from my sister," Kael growled. Silver light exploded from his hands.
Mordain actually flinched. "What—"
"You forgot something," Kael said. Light magic intensified until the entire room glowed. "We're not just twins. We're descendants of the First Mages. Our magic isn't like regular elemental power. When shadow and light combine..." He placed his other hand over Mordain's, completing the circuit between us. "They create something stronger than both."
Our birthmarks blazed simultaneously—silver light so bright it turned night into day.
The blood bond shattered.
I felt it break—eighteen years of slavery ending in one brilliant moment. The piece of my soul Mordain had held captive snapped back into place, whole and mine again.
I collapsed, gasping, free for the first time in my life.
Mordain stumbled backward, his shadow form flickering. "Impossible. The blood bond can't be broken. I performed the ritual myself—"
"You performed it on a baby," Kael interrupted. "Before her magic fully developed. Before she bonded with her twin. You never accounted for me." He helped me stand, and we faced Mordain together. "Now she's stronger than you made her. We both are."
Mordain's face twisted with rage. "You think breaking one bond makes you safe? I have resources you can't imagine. Assassins in every shadow. Allies in every court. I will destroy you both. I will burn this precious Luminara to ash. I will make you watch everyone you love die before I finally end you."
"Then you'll have to get through me first."
We all turned.
Lord Davrin stood in the doorway with twenty armed guards. But more importantly, Master Eldrin was there, his ancient hands glowing with more magic than I'd ever seen in one place.
"Guild Master Mordain," Eldrin said, his voice carrying the weight of centuries. "I know you. I fought your kind during the Mage Wars. Shadow wielders who thought power gave them the right to enslave others." His magic intensified. "Leave this palace. Leave this city. Or I will show you why they called me the Storm That Breaks Darkness."
For the first time, Mordain looked uncertain.
"This isn't over," he said, his shadow form beginning to dissipate. "The Continental Council hired me to eliminate the prince. That contract remains. If I don't fulfill it, others will. Stronger others. Deadlier others." His eyes fixed on me. "And Sera? You may have broken my blood bond, but you can never break what I made you. You're a killer. A weapon. Eventually, you'll remember that. And when you do..." He smiled one last time. "You'll come back to me on your knees, begging to be my tool again."
He vanished into shadow, taking the broken glass with him.
The room fell silent.
I stood there, shaking, staring at my hands. They weren't glowing anymore. Weren't marked. The blood bond was truly gone.
"Sera?" Kael touched my shoulder gently. "Are you—"
"He's right." My voice came out hollow. "About what I am. I'm a weapon. I've been trained since birth to kill. Even now, I can think of twelve ways to murder everyone in this room." I looked at him with tears in my eyes. "How do I stop being what he made me?"
"By choosing to be something else," Kael said firmly. "Every single day. By choosing family over fear. By choosing to protect instead of destroy. By choosing us."
"But what if I can't? What if the weapon is all that's left?"
Before Kael could answer, Davrin cleared his throat. "Your Highness, we have another problem. That ice assassin—Lyris—she's escaping. She killed two guards and is heading for the eastern wall."
My head snapped up. "She's going back to Shadowveil. She'll report everything—that I'm alive, that I've bonded with you, that Mordain failed." My stomach dropped. "She'll tell them about the other orphans. Mordain will kill them all to cover his tracks. Anyone who might know about his involvement."
"Then we stop her," Kael said.
"She's faster than both of us. And she knows every escape route because I taught them to her." I made a decision. "I have to go after her. I'm the only one who can catch her."
"You're still recovering from being impaled by ice spears," Kael argued. "You can barely stand—"
"I can stand enough." I pulled away from his support, forcing my legs to hold my weight. "Those orphans are victims just like me. If they die because I failed, because I chose freedom..." I shook my head. "I have to do this. I have to save them."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"You can't. You're the prince. Luminara needs you here—"
"Luminara has Lord Davrin and Master Eldrin." Kael grabbed weapons from his wall—two swords, simple but well-made. He tossed one to me. "And I need my sister. We're stronger together, remember? Shadow and light. That's how the prophecy works."
I caught the sword, felt its perfect balance. "You're insane."
"I'm a revolutionary. Same thing." He grinned, and I saw the warrior beneath the prince. "Besides, you said she knows your escape routes. But she doesn't know mine. This is my city. I know every shortcut, every hidden path, every way to cut someone off before they reach the walls."
He had a point.
"Fine," I agreed. "But if you die, I'm telling everyone you were a terrible prince."
"And if you die, I'm telling everyone you were a mediocre assassin."
Despite everything—despite Mordain's threats, despite my trauma, despite the fact that we'd just met—I laughed. Actually laughed.
Kael smiled. "There she is. My real sister. Not the weapon. Not the tool. Just Sera."
Davrin stepped forward. "I'm sending guards with you—"
"No," Kael and I said simultaneously.
We looked at each other, surprised, then grinned.
"Guards will slow us down," I explained. "And make noise. This needs to be fast and silent."
"Just the two of us," Kael added. "Like it should have been from the start."
Davrin looked like he wanted to argue, but Master Eldrin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let them go. The bond between them is stronger than any guard unit. And sometimes..." The old mage's eyes grew distant. "Sometimes twins need to fight their first battle together. To prove they're a true unit."
We ran.
Out of the palace, through the sleeping city, following the trail of ice Lyris left behind. Kael knew the streets like breathing. I knew how assassins thought. Together, we were unstoppable.
We caught up to her at the eastern wall, just as she was about to disappear over it.
"Going somewhere?" I called out.
Lyris spun, ice daggers forming in her hands. When she saw both of us, her expression turned murderous.
"You chose him over us. Over everyone at Shadowveil." Her voice shook with betrayal. "We were supposed to be partners, Sera. You promised—"
"I promised to survive," I interrupted. "And I finally figured out that surviving means more than just not dying. It means living. Really living. Free."
"There's no such thing as free. Not for people like us." Lyris's ice magic intensified. "Mordain owns us. He always will. And when I tell him you've turned traitor, when I tell him you've bonded with the target..." Her smile turned cruel. "He'll make you watch while he tortures every orphan who ever spoke to you. Starting with little Thomas."
My blood went cold. Thomas—the nine-year-old who'd asked if I was scared. Who still had hope in his eyes.
"You're not telling Mordain anything," Kael said, stepping beside me. "Because you're not leaving this city."
"And who's going to stop me? You?" Lyris laughed. "I'm a trained assassin. You're a privileged prince playing revolutionary. This isn't even a fair fight."
"You're right," I said quietly. "It's not fair. Because there's two of us now."
Kael and I moved as one—shadow and light combining in perfect harmony. Our bond guided us, letting us anticipate each other's movements without speaking. We'd been separated for eighteen years, but fighting together felt as natural as breathing.
Lyris was good. Maybe even better than me in pure technique.
But she was alone.
We weren't.
The fight was brutal but brief. Kael's lightning shattered her ice. My shadows bound her legs. His light magic blocked her escape routes. My darkness absorbed her attacks. Together, we were everything Mordain had feared—twins working as one unstoppable unit.
Lyris fell to her knees, defeated.
"It's over," I said softly. "Come with us. Help us free the others. You don't have to be his weapon anymore. None of us do."
For a moment, hope flickered in her ice-blue eyes.
Then she smiled. "You still don't understand, do you?"
She pressed something on her wrist—a small rune I'd missed. A tracking beacon.
"Mordain knew you'd come after me," Lyris whispered. "He knew you couldn't resist trying to save everyone. That's your weakness, Sera. You care." Her smile widened. "And now he knows exactly where you are. He's coming. And this time, he's bringing the entire Guild."
In the distance, bells began to ring. Warning bells. Invasion bells.
Kael grabbed my hand. "How many?"
I looked at the horizon and saw shadows rising like a tsunami. Hundreds of them. Every assassin Shadowveil had ever trained.
"All of them," I whispered. "He's bringing all of them."
The war had begun.