Zara's POV
Kaelen's magic hits Sevrin before I can even breathe.
Silver-white light explodes from Kaelen's hands, slamming into the assassins. Three go flying backward through the broken windows. But Sevrin just stands there, smiling, as the magic slides off him like water.
"Anti-magic wards," he says casually. "Did you really think we'd come unprepared, Archmage?"
More assassins drop from the ceiling. The throne room becomes a battlefield in seconds. Guards fight Veil agents. Steel clashes against steel. Someone's screaming orders but I can't hear them over the pounding of my heart.
Sevrin's eyes lock onto mine. "Two options, Zara. Come willingly, or watch everyone in this room die. Starting with your precious godfather."
My hand moves to my knife. Old instincts kick in—assess, plan, strike. But my body won't cooperate. I'm frozen between two impossible choices.
Kaelen steps in front of me. "She's not going anywhere with you."
"How noble." Sevrin signals his assassins. "Kill everyone except the girl."
The fight gets brutal fast. Kaelen's magic blazes but the assassins' wards deflect most of it. Theron takes down two attackers but gets slashed across the arm. Guards fall. Blood spreads across the marble floor.
And I just stand there, useless, while people die protecting me.
"Enough!" The word tears from my throat. Everything stops. Even Sevrin looks surprised.
I step forward, away from Kaelen's protection. "You want me? Fine. I'll come. Just leave them alone."
"No!" Kaelen grabs my arm. "Don't do this."
I meet his eyes and see everything I'm about to lose. His kindness. His trust. The possibility of being more than a weapon.
"I have to," I whisper. "I can't let them die for me."
Sevrin laughs. "How touching. The weapon learned to care. That's going to make reconditioning so much more painful."
The word "reconditioning" sends ice through my veins. They'll break me down. Erase everything I've become these past weeks. Turn me back into their perfect tool.
But at least Kaelen will live.
I pull away from Kaelen and walk toward Sevrin. Each step feels like walking to my own execution.
"Smart girl," Sevrin says. "Now, about your mission—"
"She's not going anywhere."
The voice comes from the doorway. Mira stands there, alive and whole and pointing a crossbow at Sevrin's head. Behind her are twenty more people—all wearing black. All former Veil assassins.
"Hello, Commander," Mira says sweetly. "Remember us? The ones you said were too weak to survive outside the Veil? We've been waiting for this."
Sevrin's smile falters for the first time. "Traitors."
"Free people," Mira corrects. She looks at me. "Zara, get away from him. Now."
But before I can move, Sevrin grabs my throat. His blade presses against my neck. "Nobody moves or she dies."
The room goes silent. Mira's crossbow doesn't waver but she can't shoot without hitting me. Kaelen's magic crackles but he can't strike either.
"New plan," Sevrin says. "Everyone drops their weapons. The Archmage surrenders. Or I open Zara's throat and let you all watch her bleed out."
I feel the blade bite into my skin. A trickle of warm blood runs down my neck.
Kaelen's face goes white. "Don't hurt her. Please."
"Then do what I say."
This is it. The moment everything falls apart. Kaelen will surrender to save me. Sevrin will kill him anyway. And I'll have failed everyone.
Unless I make a different choice.
My hand finds the hidden knife in my sleeve. The one nobody knows about. I have maybe two seconds before Sevrin notices.
I think about Kaelen healing wounded soldiers. His gentle hands. His insistence that every life matters.
My life matters too.
I drive the knife backward into Sevrin's leg. He screams and his grip loosens. I drop, roll, and Mira's crossbow bolt flies over my head straight into Sevrin's shoulder.
He staggers. Kaelen's magic finally connects, slamming Sevrin against the wall. The remaining Veil assassins see their commander down and scatter. Mira's people chase them. Guards secure the exits.
It's over in minutes. Sevrin is disarmed, wounded, and surrounded. He glares at me with pure hatred.
"You'll never be free," he spits. "The Architect has plans you can't imagine. Killing me won't stop what's coming."
"We'll see about that," Kaelen says coldly.
Guards drag Sevrin away to the dungeons. The wounded are carried out. Mira hugs me so hard I can't breathe.
"You okay?" she asks.
I nod, though my hands are shaking. "How did you escape? Sevrin said he had you."
"He lied. Classic manipulation tactic." She grins. "We've been tracking his movements for weeks. When we heard he was coming here, we followed. Good thing too."
Theron's getting his arm bandaged. Kaelen is checking on his guards. Everyone's alive. Battered and bleeding, but alive.
We won.
Except I can't shake Sevrin's words. "The Architect has plans you can't imagine."
Later that night, I'm in Kaelen's study helping clean up broken glass when he speaks.
"Thank you," he says quietly. "For not going with him."
"Thank Mira. She saved us all."
"No. You saved yourself. That's different." He touches the cut on my neck gently. "You chose to fight instead of surrender."
"I'm tired of surrendering," I admit.
He smiles. "Good. Because I need your help with something."
He spreads papers across his desk. Maps. Documents. Information about the Veil's operations.
"Sevrin was right about one thing," Kaelen says. "This isn't over. The Architect is still out there. They'll send more assassins. More threats. We need to end this permanently."
"How?"
"By destroying the Veil completely. Freeing everyone trapped there. And I need someone who knows their systems, their locations, their secrets." He looks at me. "I need you, Zara."
My real name. He used my real name.
"I don't know their main headquarters," I start to say.
"But you know other things. Safe houses. Training camps. Handler protocols." His eyes are intense. "Help me dismantle them. Not for revenge. For justice. For all the children they'll never get to steal."
It's the mission I didn't know I wanted. A chance to destroy the organization that destroyed me.
"Yes," I say. "I'll help."
We work until midnight, marking locations on maps, writing down everything I remember. It feels good. Like I'm finally fighting back.
Then Kaelen finds something in the documents we took from Sevrin. His face goes pale.
"What is it?" I ask.
He shows me. It's a letter. Written in code I can barely read. But I recognize one name: Kaelen Thorne.
"It's from the Architect," Kaelen says slowly. "Sent three months ago. Before you were even assigned to kill me."
"What does it say?"
He reads it aloud, his voice shaking:
"Kaelen Thorne must die by winter solstice. Not because of the war. Not for politics. But because he carries the bloodline that destroyed us. His death will complete the ritual. His magic will fuel our revenge. And the woman we send to kill him will be the key to everything—she just doesn't know it yet."
I feel like the floor dropped out from under me. "What does that mean? What ritual?"
Kaelen looks at me with dawning horror. "Your anti-magic properties. They didn't just make you a better assassin. They made you a magical catalyst. If you had killed me, my power would've channeled through you instead of dying with me."
"Channeled where?"
"To the Architect." His hands clench the letter. "They weren't trying to eliminate me. They were trying to steal my magic. And they were going to use you as the weapon to do it."
The room spins. I wasn't just sent to kill Kaelen. I was sent to be used. Again. Always a tool. Never a person.
"When's winter solstice?" I whisper.
Kaelen's voice is barely audible. "Tomorrow."
Before I can process that, before I can even think, every magical light in the fortress goes out at once.
Total darkness.
Then, from somewhere deep below the fortress, a sound rises. Chanting. Multiple voices speaking in unison.
And I recognize one of those voices.
It's Mira.