He woke to candlelight, fever sweat, and the taste of blood in his mouth.
Kai sat bolt upright.
His chest still throbbed where the seal had cracked — the black veins now etched like burned ink beneath his skin. They weren't just magic.
They were instructions.
A curse. A command.
And it was screaming at him now:
> Kill him.
> Kill Prince Rael.
Not with hatred. Not with rage.
With precision. With cold execution.
The way Valeria would've done.
---
A figure leaned against the wall — calm, armored, watching.
The woman in green.
"You bleed like someone who doesn't belong in that skin," she said.
Kai didn't answer.
She stepped closer, helmet off now. Her scar cut through the right side of her face, giving her a half-snarl even at rest.
"You don't remember me, do you?"
Kai kept silent.
She smiled faintly. "That's the difference. She would've had a blade to my throat by now."
Kai forced himself to his feet. "What do you want?"
"To remind you," she said. "Why you came here."
Kai's pulse stopped.
Because her next words hit like a dagger to the soul.
"You came to kill the prince. Don't pretend you've forgotten."
---
She tossed something at his feet.
A dagger.
Not just any blade — Valeria's favorite. Serrated edge, etched with runes for silence and blood coiling.
"Sealed with your mark," the woman said. "We stole that from the vault two years ago, remember? Right before you agreed to take the job."
Kai's mouth went dry.
"You're a little late delivering."
He swallowed. "Who are you?"
"You can call me Mercer. I ran contracts for Ghostblade's inner circle. Until you disappeared."
She stepped closer.
"You want out? You think Velden lets people like us retire?"
Kai said nothing.
Mercer leaned in. "You can't outrun your mission, Ghostblade. Even if you're not the one steering the wheel anymore."
She glanced at his chest. "That seal? It's not just soul magic. It's a fail-safe."
Kai froze.
Mercer's voice dropped.
"If you don't kill Rael before the new moon, the seal will finish you. Mind, body, and soul. You won't just die — you'll burn out of existence. And Valeria with you."
---
Later, Kai stood on the balcony, dagger in hand.
Rael's window faced his — just across the courtyard.
A clean throw. Easy enough.
But his hand wouldn't move.
> "You came to kill him."
> "But he's not who you thought."
> "And… maybe you aren't either."
He turned the blade in his hand and stared at his reflection in the steel.
Not Kai.
Not Valeria.
Something between.
---
That night, the court gathered in the high ballroom. Velvet-draped, glittering with stormlight crystals and golden lords.
Kai moved through them like a ghost.
Every noble he passed bowed or stared too long.
The infamous Ghostblade had returned. Alive. Silent. Lethal.
Rael stood at the top of the marble stairs, cloaked in stormlight blue, wearing command like a second skin.
His gaze found Kai's — and something in his expression softened.
Like he wasn't looking at a killer anymore.
But someone worth saving.
---
Halfway through the feast, a servant passed Kai a note folded twice.
No seal.
No signature.
But the writing was precise.
> You hesitate.
You die.
Seal closes in three nights.
Kai crumpled it in his fist.
Rael approached soon after, two guards trailing behind him.
"Valeria. Can we talk?"
Kai followed him onto a high terrace, overlooking Velden's moonlit spires.
The wind was sharp. The silence sharper.
Rael faced him.
"You've changed," he said simply. "And not just your fighting."
Kai's throat tightened.
Rael went on. "You don't look at people like you used to. You listen more. You flinch when no one's touched you."
Kai looked away.
"I want to know what happened to you out there," Rael said softly. "But more than that… I want to believe you're still on my side."
Kai's heart thundered.
"I don't know whose side I'm on anymore," he admitted.
Rael nodded once — and turned to leave.
But stopped.
And looked back with something like pain in his voice.
"If you're not the woman I trusted," he said, "then you're someone else entirely."
And he walked away.
---
Kai stayed on the terrace long after.
Fingers curling around the dagger hidden in his sleeve.
His heartbeat louder than the city.
The seal thrummed beneath his skin — the final warning.
> Three nights.
> One life.
> No way out.
Kai whispered to the wind.
"…What the hell do I do now?"
No answer came.
Only the seal, pulsing faintly like a second heartbeat.
And a memory that was no longer just Valeria's:
> A young Rael. A bloodstained room.
Her dagger pressed to his throat.
And his voice — steady even then.
"Do it. I'd rather die than beg."
She hadn't.
And now?
Now Kai would have to finish the job she couldn't.