Dawn broke pale and hollow over Greyspire.
The storm had died, leaving only frost and silence — the kind of silence that made even breath sound too loud.
Rowan stood at the cave mouth, cloak dusted with snow, watching the fortress glow faint blue under the rising sun. Mana conduits pulsed through the walls like veins, each throb echoing faintly in the air.
Cass yawned and stretched behind him. "You know, I was really hoping we'd start the day with breakfast, not a heist."
Lynx flicked her tails. "Then you should've joined the farmers' guild."
Cass smirked. "They don't pay as well, and they don't have you to sass me."
Mira rolled up the map she'd been studying all night. Her eyes were rimmed with fatigue, but her movements were sharp, steady. "We move now. The night patrol's changing shifts — it's our best window."
Rowan nodded, sliding his revolver into its holster. "Once we're in, split up. Mira and I head for the tower. Cass, Lynx — free the workers and sabotage the conduits."
Cass gave a mock salute. "Aye, captain. Try not to die dramatically before I get back."
Rowan didn't answer. He was already gone — ghosting through the fog like a shadow that forgot to fade.
---
The outer wall wasn't built for intruders. It was built to remind them not to try. Iron spikes lined the top, and sentries paced with rifles that hummed faintly with mana charge. But Mira and Rowan moved like wraiths, slipping between blind spots and frozen ledges.
When they finally reached the drainage tunnel, Mira crouched by the grate. "Locked."
Rowan knelt beside her, pulling a small crystal shard from his belt. Blue light shimmered across his glove as he pressed the shard into the lock. The metal hissed, then cracked open with a faint flash.
Mira raised a brow. "You're getting better with that mana control."
"Or just luckier," he said quietly.
Their hands brushed as they lifted the grate. Mira felt the warmth of his glove — steady, solid, grounding. She pulled back first, swallowing the weird flutter that came with it.
They dropped into the tunnel, boots splashing in icy water. The walls hummed faintly with mana, carrying echoes of machinery deeper within the fortress.
"Creepy place," Mira muttered. "You can feel the power crawling in the air."
"Yeah," Rowan said. "Feels like it's alive."
---
They emerged into a service corridor — dimly lit, lined with pipes and faint blue lights. Voices echoed faintly above them.
Rowan pressed a finger to his lips and motioned forward.
Two guards stood near the junction ahead, talking about the new shipment. Mira slid behind one pillar, Rowan behind another. One nod — and they moved.
A flash of motion, the whisper of steel, two bodies hitting the ground before they even screamed. Mira wiped her blade clean. Rowan was already dragging them aside.
"You're efficient," she said softly.
"Learned from my dad," he murmured. "He used to say — if you have to draw your weapon, do it once."
There was something in his tone — distant, bitter, fond all at once. Mira didn't press. She just watched him a second longer than she meant to before turning away.
---
They reached the base of the tower by mid-morning. The structure loomed like a fang stabbing into the sky. A single door of reinforced iron guarded the way inside.
Rowan touched the handle. Cold. Too cold.
"Trap?" Mira guessed.
He nodded. "Mana surge. Probably keyed to reject anyone without Halden's crest."
"So how do we—"
Before she could finish, Rowan pressed his glowing palm to the seal. Blue sparks flared, lighting up the carvings across the door.
The mana pushed back, like a wave trying to drown him. His eyes flashed gold as he gritted his teeth, forcing it open.
The door split with a thunderous crack, heat and energy bursting out like a living storm.
Mira's hair whipped in the blast. "You could've warned me!"
He smirked faintly. "Where's the fun in that?"
---
Inside, Greyspire's heart pulsed.
Massive conduits climbed the walls, feeding into a suspended core of glowing crystal — raw mana harvested from the mines. The hum was deafening, vibrating through bone.
Mira stared in awe. "That's enough energy to power half the kingdom."
"Or destroy it," Rowan said.
Footsteps echoed.
From the shadows above, a man descended the staircase — tall, wrapped in dark furs and iron, with eyes like a hawk and the arrogance of ten kings.
"Lord Halden," Mira hissed.
"Ah," Halden said smoothly, voice dripping disdain. "So the Phoenix dogs were right. The traitor lives."
Rowan's hand drifted to his revolver. "You've been feeding mana to the royals — for what? Power? Favor?"
Halden smiled coldly. "For survival. The king rewards loyalty. He destroys everything else. You of all people should understand that, Ainsworth."
The sound of that name — his father's name — hit like a blade.
Mira saw his jaw tighten, his glove twitch with unstable blue light.
"Rowan," she murmured, "don't—"
But it was too late.
He drew first.
The shot tore through the air like thunder. Halden moved faster, the bullet deflecting off a flicker of magic shield. He laughed. "Still your father's temper."
"Guess that runs in the family," Rowan growled, and the fight began.
---
Halden struck with rune blades, their edges humming with stored mana. Sparks burst as Rowan parried, countered, ducked under a sweep and sent a blast of frost through his palm.
Mira darted in beside him, her blade flashing silver, striking the gaps in Halden's armor.
For a moment, they fought like a single force — back-to-back, breath syncing, rhythm perfect. Mira's movements were sharp, precise; Rowan's were wild, instinctive.
"Left!" she shouted.
"Got it!"
He turned just in time, catching a blow meant for her. Pain flared down his arm, but he didn't fall.
Mira's eyes flicked to him — worry, anger, something else all tangled. "Idiot!"
"Focus!" he barked back, grinning despite the blood on his lip.
Together, they drove Halden backward — step by step until his foot hit the edge of the mana pit.
"You don't understand what you're fighting," Halden snarled. "The Phoenix Family controls fate itself!"
"Then we'll break fate," Rowan said coldly — and pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit the conduit.
Mana exploded.
The tower filled with light — blinding, furious, alive.
---
When the world finally stopped burning, Rowan opened his eyes to see the tower in ruins, blue smoke rising from shattered conduits. Halden was gone — buried or fled, he couldn't tell.
Mira knelt beside him, dirt and blood streaked across her cheek. "You insane—stupid—brilliant man," she muttered, half laughing, half shaking.
He coughed out a laugh. "We win?"
She nodded faintly. "For now."
Their eyes met — snow, ash, and a hundred unsaid things between them.
Rowan looked away first this time. "Come on. Let's get out before the whole mountain comes down."
As they limped toward the exit, Mira glanced back once — at the broken tower, the dying glow of the core.
Something in her chest twisted. Not fear. Not relief. Something warmer. Dangerous.
She pushed it down and followed him into the storm.