The days after the alley blurred together.
Kael trained. Ate. Slept. Reported for duty. But everything had changed. The Core hummed constantly now, a second heartbeat beneath his ribs. Warm. Alert. Hungry.
He could feel it growing.
The two men he'd broken in the alley—their techniques lived in him now. The way they'd moved. The way they'd held their swords. The fear in their eyes when he'd struck. All of it was his, absorbed through the Core like water into dry ground.
Archive, the voice whispered. We keep what we conquer.
Kael didn't argue anymore.
---
Seraphine found him three days later in the training yard, long after everyone else had gone. He was running forms—the same forms the drill master taught, but faster now. Smoother. The Core guided his muscles, showing him where to improve, where to strike.
"You're getting better."
He didn't stop. "I'm getting something."
She watched him complete the set before speaking again. "I found more. About Lord Vex. About why he's looking for you."
Kael lowered his sword. Waited.
"He has a daughter. Liana. Eighteen. Engaged to Corren Malk—the man who now holds your family's lands." Seraphine's voice was careful. Professional. "The wedding is in three months. It's political. Vex needs Malk's army for something. No one knows what."
"And me?"
"You're a loose end. Your father knew things. Secrets about Vex, about the empire, about the bloodlines." She paused. "Vex thinks you might know them too."
Kael laughed—short, bitter. "I don't know anything. My father never told me."
"Vex doesn't know that. And even if he did, you're still a threat. The last Renford. The boy who survived." Seraphine stepped closer. "He won't stop looking. Not until you're dead or in his control."
The Core pulsed. Hot.
Let him try.
"What do we do?" Kael asked.
"We do what survivors do. We get ahead of him." Seraphine pulled a folded paper from her coat. "There's a party tomorrow night. At the Vex estate. Nobles, officials, the usual crowd. Lord Vex will be there. So will his daughter. So will Corren Malk."
Kael stared at the paper. "You want me to go to my enemy's house?"
"I want you to see them. Know them. Understand what you're fighting." She met his eyes. "And I want you to meet Liana Vex. She's not like her father. She might be useful."
"Useful how?"
"I don't know yet. But she's trapped. Engaged to a man she hates, controlled by a father who sees her as currency. People like that make choices. Sometimes the right ones."
Kael thought about it. Three years of hiding. Three years of being nothing. And now—walking into the lion's den.
Yes, the Core whispered. Yes. Let them see us. Let them fear.
"Fine," Kael said. "I'll go."
---
The Vex estate sat on a hill overlooking the capital. Marble columns. Lanterns in every window. Carriages lined up along the drive, disgorging nobles in silks and jewels.
Kael wore a servant's uniform Seraphine had stolen. He walked with his head down, carrying a tray of empty glasses, invisible to the rich people who flowed past him like water around stone.
Inside, the house was even grander. Paintings on every wall. Chandeliers dripping crystal. Music from somewhere deeper in. Laughter. Lies. Politics.
Kael moved through the crowd, eyes sharp, memorizing faces, exits, guards. The Core fed him details—a knife here, a hidden door there, the way a noble's eyes flickered toward his wife's lover.
Useful, the Core murmured. All useful.
He was passing through the main hall when he saw her.
Liana Vex.
She stood by the fireplace, surrounded by admirers, but her eyes were somewhere else. Golden hair. Green eyes. A smile that didn't reach her face. She wore a gown of deep blue, expensive and confining, and her hands were clasped so tight her knuckles were white.
Trapped. Just as Seraphine said.
Kael kept walking. He'd almost made it to the servants' corridor when a voice stopped him.
"You. Boy."
He turned. A man in military uniform stood behind him—tall, handsome in a cruel way, with cold eyes and a sword at his hip. Corren Malk. Kael knew without being told.
"More wine," Malk said, gesturing at his empty glass.
Kael bowed. Took the glass. Moved toward the servant station.
Behind him, Malk laughed at something. Kael's hand tightened on the tray.
Not yet, the Core whispered. Not here. Not now.
He poured the wine. Brought it back. Bowed again.
Malk didn't even look at him.
---
An hour later, Kael slipped away from the party. He found a balcony overlooking the gardens, empty and dark, and stood there breathing cold air, trying to calm the Core's hunger.
Footsteps behind him.
He turned. Reached for a weapon he didn't have.
Liana Vex stood in the doorway, watching him.
"You're not a servant," she said.
Kael's heart stopped. "I—"
"I've seen every servant in this house. You're not one of them." She stepped onto the balcony, closing the door behind her. "Who are you?"
Kael could have lied. Should have lied. But something in her eyes—that trapped, desperate look—made him hesitate.
"A friend," he said finally. "Of someone who wants to help you."
Liana's expression didn't change. But something flickered in her eyes. Hope. Fear. Both.
"Help me how?"
"Your father is looking for someone. A boy who survived an execution three years ago." Kael watched her face carefully. "Do you know why?"
Liana was silent for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.
"My father has many secrets. That one... that one he keeps close." She looked at Kael—really looked, seeing him for the first time. "You're him. The boy."
Kael didn't answer.
"I won't tell anyone." The words came fast, desperate. "I swear it. I'm not—I'm not like him."
"Then why are you here? Talking to me?"
Liana looked back at the door, checking for listeners. When she turned around, her eyes were wet.
"Because in three months, I marry that monster. And no one—no one—has ever offered to help me." She stepped closer. "If you're really here to stop my father, to hurt him, to make him pay for whatever he did—then I'll help you. Any way I can."
The Core pulsed. Warm. Interested.
She means it, it whispered. She's desperate. Desperate people are useful.
Kael looked at Liana Vex. Trapped. Beautiful. Burning with the same fire that had consumed him for three years.
"Meet me tomorrow," he said. "The old market. Noon. Come alone."
He slipped past her, through the door, back into the house of his enemies.
Behind him, Liana Vex stood on the balcony, heart pounding, hope blooming like a flower in winter.
---
The next day, Kael waited in the old market.
It was a ruin—buildings half-collapsed, merchants long gone, only rats and shadows for company. Perfect for meetings no one should know about.
Liana came at noon, wrapped in a plain cloak, her golden hair hidden. She moved through the rubble like she'd never walked on anything but marble.
"You came," Kael said.
"You offered help." She stopped a few feet away, studying him. "You're younger than I expected."
"I'm older than I feel."
A ghost of a smile. "I know that feeling."
They stood in awkward silence. Then Liana spoke again.
"My father... he's planning something. Something big. He's been meeting with people—strange people, not nobles. Men with scars and empty eyes. They come at night, leave before dawn." She shivered. "Corren Malk is part of it. The marriage is part of it. I'm just... currency."
"What do they want?"
"I don't know. But I heard a name once. They whispered it when they thought I was asleep." She met his eyes. "The Ashveil Core."
Kael's blood froze.
The Core surged in his chest—not hunger, but recognition. Fear. Anger.
They know, it whispered. They know what we are. They want us.
"The Core," Kael said slowly. "You're sure that's what they said?"
"Positive." Liana stepped closer. "What is it? Why does my father want it?"
Kael looked at her. Could he trust her? Should he?
The Core pulsed. Warm. Not hostile.
She's like us. Trapped. Alone. Desperate. Tell her.
"It's me," Kael said. "The Core is me. It's my bloodline. My inheritance. And your father—" He stopped. Swallowed. "Your father killed my father to get it."
Liana's face went pale. "No. He—he testified, but—"
"He lied. The treason never happened. Your father wanted the Core, and my father wouldn't give it up. So he burned." Kael's voice was flat. Dead. "Three years ago. On that platform. I watched."
Liana stared at him. Tears slid down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault."
"It is. My family. My name. Everything." She wiped her eyes, angry at herself for crying. "I'll help you. Whatever you need. I'll—I'll burn him myself if I have to."
Kael believed her.
---
They talked for an hour. Liana told him about her father's routines, his allies, his weaknesses. She told him about the men who came at night—their descriptions, their habits, the things they whispered. She told him about Corren Malk, the monster she was meant to marry, and the things he'd done to other women, other families.
Kael listened. Remembered. The Core absorbed it all.
When they parted, Liana caught his hand.
"Kael." Her voice was soft. "Be careful. My father is more dangerous than you know."
"So am I."
She smiled—small, real, the first genuine smile he'd seen on her face. "I believe you."
She slipped away through the ruins, back to her gilded cage.
Kael watched her go, then turned toward the barracks. The Core hummed in his chest, warm and eager.
She'll be ours, it whispered. In time. They'll all be ours.
Kael didn't argue.
---
That night, Seraphine found him on the roof.
"You met her."
"I met her."
"And?"
Kael told her everything. Liana's offer. The men at night. The name they'd whispered—Ashveil Core.
Seraphine's face went hard. "They know. Vex knows what you are. That's why he's looking."
"He doesn't know it's me. Not yet. Just that I exist."
"For now." Seraphine stared at the city below. "We need to move faster. Find out who those men are. What they want. Before Vex finds you first."
Kael nodded. The Core pulsed—hungry, eager, ready.
"Tomorrow," he said. "We start tomorrow."
Seraphine looked at him. In the moonlight, her eyes were soft. "You're changing, Kael."
"Good change or bad?"
"I don't know yet." She reached out, touched his cheek. Her hand was warm. "But I'm still here. Still with you."
The Core stirred—not hunger, not power. Something else. Something that made Kael's chest ache.
He didn't pull away.