Episode 7
1291 Words
The moonstone Kael dropped at my feet was mine.
But I’d never lost it.
I reached inside my cloak and pulled it out, still warm from being close to my skin.
Two identical stones.
Impossible.
I stared at the one on the ground, my heart thudding.
Ryker picked it up carefully. “It’s not hers.”
Kael’s face didn’t change. “It was found at the edge of the woods. Right before my scout vanished.”
I looked at him sharply. “And you came all this way to tell me that?”
He held my gaze. “Because I think you’re next.”
****
We sat around a dim fire. Kael didn’t rest. Ryker didn’t stop glaring. I didn’t breathe easily.
I kept turning the second moonstone over in my palm, tracing the cracked surface.
“This is a message,” I said. “They’re copying what matters.”
Ryker’s jaw tensed. “Or they stole it off someone close to you.”
“Except no one knows I still carry this.”
Kael leaned forward. “Someone does. Someone inside your circle.”
Silence fell.
That single word wrapped around us like smoke.
Inside.
****
I stood abruptly. The air was too tight. “No one in my circle would betray me.”
Kael raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
“I trust them.”
“You trusted me once,” he said quietly.
The words stung.
Ryker stood up too. “She doesn’t need to defend herself to you.”
“I’m not asking her to,” Kael said, eyes still on me. “But I know what it looks like when betrayal wears a familiar face.”
He was right.
That’s exactly what it looked like.
*****
I went upstairs alone.
The second floor of the tower creaked beneath my steps, dust floating like ghosts.
I sat near the window and watched the trees shift in the wind.
Someone knew I was alive.
Someone close.
Someone I didn’t suspect.
But who?
Ryker?
No. He’d saved me more times than I could count.
The rogues I worked with? Maybe. But none of them had gotten close enough to touch the moonstone.
Unless I’d been watched.
Followed.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one hiding behind another name.
*****
I didn’t hear him come in, but I felt it.
Kael’s presence was heavy, like heat rolling off stone.
He stood by the door. “You okay?”
“No.”
He stepped closer. “Do you think it’s them?”
“I think it could be anyone.”
He nodded slowly, then sat across from me. “I still remember when I gave you the first one.”
I didn’t answer.
“You said it felt like home.”
“I was seventeen.”
He smiled faintly. “You said you’d keep it close to your heart.”
“I did.”
Kael’s voice dropped. “Did he ever know about it? Ryker?”
“Yes,” I said, meeting his eyes. “And he never once asked me to let go of it.”
That answer made him flinch.
*****
I expected him to leave after that.
But he stayed.
He didn’t touch me. Didn’t push.
Just sat with me.
Like maybe, deep down, he knew this wasn’t about who won me back—
But about who stayed when everything fell apart.
*****
The next morning, Ryker was gone.
I found a note near his pack.
Gone to speak with the rogues. Keep the fire low. Back by night.
My stomach twisted.
He didn’t tell me which rogues.
Or where.
Kael watched me read the note.
“You think he left… or ran?”
I glared at him. “He’s not a coward.”
“Didn’t say he was.”
I shoved the note into my cloak. “He wouldn’t leave without reason.”
“Then what’s the reason?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I wasn’t sure.
*****
By midday, we received another visitor.
One of the rogues from the temple ruins — the shortest of the four. His face was pale, his hands shaking.
“They’re moving,” he said.
“Who?”
“Blackveil.”
“Where?” I demanded.
“East ridge. They passed through one of the abandoned farms. Left marks behind. A warning.”
He held out a scrap of wood.
The same crescent moon, cracked in half.
Burned deep.
“They’re not hiding anymore,” Kael muttered.
The rogue nodded. “They’re hunting now.”
*****
We followed the trail after nightfall.
Kael and I moved in silence. No words. Just footsteps and cold air.
The farms were mostly empty, crumbled ruins from the old wars. But one still had a roof.
That’s where we found the sign.
Not just a burned mark this time.
A name carved into the barn wall.
ELARA.
In blood.
Kael exhaled slowly. “They’re sending a message.”
“They’ve been sending them,” I said. “Now they want a response.”
I touched the name. The blood was dry.
But recent.
They weren’t far.
*****
We stayed hidden until the moon reached its peak.
Then we saw movement in the trees.
Shadows. Fast. Organized.
Three figures. No scent. No sound.
Blackveil didn’t move like rogues. They moved like ghosts.
We waited until they passed, then trailed behind at a safe distance.
But something wasn’t right.
One of them was limping.
Carrying weight.
Kael narrowed his eyes. “They have someone.”
I tensed. “Ryker?”
“We don’t know that.”
But I felt it in my chest.
I knew.
*****
We followed them to a cave mouth carved into the cliffs.
They vanished inside.
Kael grabbed my arm. “You can’t go in there.”
“He’s in there.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do.”
Kael looked torn. “We wait. We get backup—”
“There’s no time.”
“Elara—”
I pulled away. “You’re the one who said I’m not the same girl. Then stop treating me like I need permission to fight.”
He stared at me.
Then slowly, nodded.
“I’ll cover you.”
*****
Inside the cave, the air was wet and stale.
I moved silently, blade drawn.
The tunnel curved down into a narrow chamber, lit faintly by torches.
I saw them before they saw me.
Three of them.
And chained to the far wall—
Ryker.
Bloodied.
Unmoving.
******
Rage ripped through me.
I stepped out of the shadow and threw my blade.
It struck one of them in the neck.
The other two turned, snarling—no words, just sound. Like animals without souls.
Kael charged behind me, taking the left.
I went for the right.
The fight was brutal.
Fast.
By the end, we stood breathing hard, surrounded by silence.
I ran to Ryker.
His eyes opened slowly. “Took you long enough.”
Relief hit me like a wave. “Don’t move.”
He gave a bloody smile. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
Kael helped break the chains.
Ryker slumped against me. “They didn’t talk. Not once. Just stared.”
“They wanted you to see them,” Kael said. “That’s the real message.”
******
We carried him out.
The stars were fading into dawn.
But just as we reached the clearing—
I froze.
Because standing on the ridge above us—
Was another Blackveil figure.
But this one didn’t run.
Didn’t hide.
He stepped forward, lowering his hood.
I gasped.
Kael stiffened.
Even Ryker’s breath caught.
Because the man staring down at us…
Was Kael’s younger brother.
One we thought died in the Southern War.
- Writer
