Keira's POV
The bandits' swords were already swinging toward the child when my lightning struck.
Blue-white energy exploded from my hands, hitting all three attackers at once. They convulsed and dropped, unconscious before they hit the ground. The merchant family's wagon stood frozen on the forest road, the father clutching his daughter, the mother holding a crying baby.
I didn't want to save them. Didn't want to stop. But the child's scream had ripped through my concentration, and my body moved before my brain caught up.
Now they were staring at me like I was some kind of hero.
I hated it.
"Thank you!" The merchant rushed forward, tears streaming down his face. "Thank you so much! Those bandits would have killed us all. You saved—"
"I didn't save you." I cut him off coldly, already turning back to my horse. "I was practicing my aim. You happened to be here."
It was a lie. A cruel lie. But I couldn't afford gratitude. Couldn't afford witnesses who'd remember the silver-haired girl traveling toward Valdoria.
Couldn't afford to feel good about saving people when I was riding toward murdering my own brother.
The word "twin" burned in my mind like a brand. For two days, I'd thought of nothing else. Silas's note. Grandmother's cruel smile. The symbol on my wooden horse that matched the lightning-and-wind crest I'd seen on maps of Valdoria.
Prince Caelan Stormwright was my twin brother.
And I was supposed to kill him.
"Please," the merchant's wife called out. "At least let us thank you properly. We have food, water—"
"I don't need your thanks." I mounted my horse, not looking back at the little girl whose life I'd just saved. "Forget you saw me."
I rode away fast, their grateful voices fading behind me. My hands were shaking. When had they started shaking?
I should have kept riding. Should have pushed through without stopping. But the merchant family's wagon appeared again an hour later at a river crossing, the father struggling to fix a broken wheel.
I told myself to ride past. Told myself their problems weren't mine.
The little girl saw me first. "Papa! It's the lightning lady!"
Damn it.
The father looked up, hope brightening his worn face. "Miss! Please, we're stuck. If we don't reach Valdoria before dark, we'll have to camp in these woods. With bandits everywhere..." He trailed off, looking at his children.
Every instinct screamed at me to leave. Get involved with no one. Feel nothing. That's what assassins do.
But that little girl was maybe five years old. The same age I'd been when—
When what? I couldn't remember. The Covenant had taken those memories.
Or stolen them.
"Fine," I heard myself say. "Move aside."
I used my lightning magic carefully, welding the broken wheel back together in seconds. The merchant gaped. His wife clutched her baby tighter, frightened of my power.
"That's... that's incredible," the father breathed. "Are you from Valdoria? Do you serve Prince Caelan?"
My heart stopped. "Why would you think that?"
"The lightning magic. The prince uses wind magic, and his personal guards include elementals like you." The merchant smiled. "Valdoria is a haven for people with gifts. The prince protects those of us the old kingdoms would hunt or enslave."
"I don't serve anyone." The words came out harsher than I meant.
"Oh." The merchant looked confused. "I just thought... well, you saved us. That's what the prince does. He saves people."
"I'm nothing like him," I said flatly.
"Actually, you kind of look like him." The wife tilted her head, studying my face. "Same silver hair, same gray eyes. Are you related to the royal family?"
My lightning magic sparked dangerously. "No."
But I was lying. I was his twin. His mirror. His other half.
The half that was coming to murder him.
"We're traveling to Valdoria for the Harvest Festival," the merchant continued, oblivious to my distress. "Our village was starving last winter—terrible drought, crops failed. We would have died. But Prince Caelan sent food, medicine, even seeds for replanting. He saved us all. Didn't ask for anything in return."
The baby giggled, reaching tiny hands toward me. The mother bounced her gently.
"The prince visits our village sometimes," she said softly. "Plays with the children. He lost his family when he was young, you know. Says every child deserves protection. Deserves to grow up safe."
Something twisted painfully in my chest. I shoved it down deep.
"That's... nice," I managed.
"Nice?" The merchant laughed. "It's a miracle! The old kingdoms don't care if we live or die. But Prince Caelan? He's building something better. Something worth fighting for."
Worth killing for? I wanted to ask. Would you kill for him?
Because someone was going to die in three days. Either the prince... or me.
I left the family at the next crossroads, ignoring their invitations to travel together. But their words haunted me as I rode through the darkening forest.
Prince Caelan saved people. Protected children. Built a haven for those the world threw away.
I killed people. Hurt children by making them orphans. Served an organization that profited from pain.
We were twins. Identical. Two halves of the same soul.
So why were we complete opposites?
That night, I camped alone in the Whispering Woods. The trees got their name from the way wind moved through them—like voices calling from another world. I sat by my fire, staring at the wooden horse.
The lightning-and-wind symbol glowed in the firelight.
I'd been carrying a piece of my real family my whole life, and I'd never known.
"What happened to us?" I whispered to the toy. "Why was I taken? Why was he kept?"
The wind through the trees almost sounded like an answer. Almost sounded like a child crying.
A five-year-old girl, screaming as she was ripped from her brother's arms.
My head exploded with pain. Images flashed—memories fighting to break through whatever magic had locked them away. A boy's face. My face. Both of us covered in blood. Someone screaming. Fire. Swords. Darkness.
Then nothing.
I gasped, clutching my head. What was that? A memory? A dream?
Movement in the shadows made me freeze. Someone was watching me.
I grabbed Silas's dagger, lightning crackling around my free hand. "Show yourself."
A figure stepped into the firelight, and my heart stopped.
He had silver-white hair. Storm-gray eyes. My face.
Prince Caelan Stormwright stood ten feet away, wind magic swirling around him like a living thing.
"Hello, sister," he said quietly. "I've been waiting twenty-one years to meet you."
He knew. Somehow, he knew I was coming.
And he'd found me first.
My training screamed at me to attack. My lightning magic begged to be released. One strike and he'd be dead. Mission complete.
But I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Because looking at him was like looking in a mirror. A mirror that showed me everything I could have been.
Everything I'd lost.
"Don't run," Caelan said, taking a careful step closer. "Please. I just want to talk. I just want to know my sister."
My dagger trembled in my hand. "I'm here to kill you."
"I know." His smile was sad. Gentle. "That's why I came alone. So we could meet as family before you decide whether to complete your mission."
"You're not my family. The Covenant is my family."
"The Covenant stole you from me." His voice cracked with emotion. "They killed our parents. They took you that night and raised you to be a weapon. But Keira—your real name is Keira Stormwright—you're my twin sister. And I've been searching for you since the day you disappeared."
Lies. Had to be lies.
But why did his voice make my chest ache? Why did looking at him feel like coming home?
"Prove it," I challenged. "Prove we're related."
Caelan slowly lifted his shirt, turning around.
Five jagged scars crossed his back.
Identical to mine.
My world tilted. The dagger fell from my hand.
"We got them the same night," he said softly. "The night the assassins attacked. We were five years old. You were torn from my arms screaming. I couldn't save you. I've regretted it every day since."
My lightning magic exploded outward uncontrollably. Caelan's wind rose to meet it, and where they touched, the elements danced together like they were made for each other.
Like we were made for each other.
"No," I whispered. "No, this can't be real. You're lying. You have to be lying."
"I wish I was." Caelan's eyes—my eyes—filled with tears. "I wish I'd found you sooner. Before they turned you into this. Before they sent you to kill me."
"I should kill you right now."
"Yes," he agreed. "You should. That's what they trained you to do. But Keira... what do you want to do?"
No one had ever asked me that before.
What did I want?
I wanted to scream. To cry. To run away from this impossible choice. To wake up and discover this was all a nightmare.
I wanted my brother back.
The brother I'd forgotten existed.
"I don't know," I admitted, and for the first time in fifteen years, I let myself sound lost. Scared. Human.
Caelan took another step closer. "Then let me help you figure it out. Come to Valdoria with me. Not as an assassin. As my guest. Learn the truth. Then decide."
"And if I decide to complete my mission?"
His smile was heartbreaking. "Then at least I'll have met my sister before I die."