THE WITCH HE WAS SENT TO KILL

THE COST OF PEACE

*Chapter 4: The Cost of Mercy*

The sound woke me.

A branch snapping. Too close.

I was on my feet before I was fully awake. Dagger in hand.

Lyra stirred on the floor, still wrapped in my cloak.

“Kael?” she whispered, voice thick with sleep.

“Shh.”

I moved to the window. Pulled the curtain back an inch.

Silver armor.

Torches.

Doren.

He’d found us.

My stomach dropped. There were six of them. Maybe more in the trees.

“Get up,” I said, turning to Lyra. “Now.”

She was already standing, eyes wide and gold. No fear. Just resolve.

“They’re here for me,” she said.

“They’re here for both of us,” I corrected. “You’re a witch. I’m a traitor.”

The door slammed.

“KAEL VIRE!” Doren’s voice boomed. “Come out with the witch. This is your last chance at mercy.”

Mercy.

The Order didn’t know the meaning of the word.

I looked at Lyra. “We can fight. Or we can run.”

She shook her head. “There’s nowhere to run. Not with them blocking every path.”

She stepped forward. “I’ll go with them. If I go, they might let you live.”

“No.”

The word came out before I could think.

I grabbed her shoulders. “I didn’t let you go in that village just to watch you burn. I didn’t heal— I didn’t let you heal me just to lose you now.”

Her eyes softened. “Kael—”

“Deal, remember? No lies. And I’m not lying now.”

I pressed my forehead to hers for half a second. “I’m not letting them take you.”

She breathed out. “Then what do we do?”

I smiled. It felt wrong on my face. I hadn’t smiled in years.

“We give them a war.”

---

The door burst open before we could reach it.

Doren stood there, flanked by two warlocks. His eyes landed on Lyra first. Then on me.

“Step away from her, Kael,” he said. “This is your final warning.”

I didn’t move.

“Final warning for what? For choosing to be human?”

Doren’s face twisted. “You were the best of us. And you threw it away for _her_?”

“I threw it away for the truth,” I said. “You’ve been lying to us. To me. About the curse. About the witches. About everything.”

“You know nothing,” he spat.

“Then explain it,” I challenged. “Explain why my sister is still dying after two years of your ‘help’. Explain why you let villages rot while you hunt children.”

One of the warlocks raised his hand. Magic crackled.

“Enough talking,” Doren said. “Take them.”

They moved.

I moved faster.

The first blast of silver magic hit the wall where I’d been standing. I rolled, pulling Lyra down with me.

“Stay behind me,” I ordered.

“I’m not a child,” she shot back. Green light flared in her palms.

We fought back to back.

It was chaos.

Fire and ice and silver light. The cabin shook.

I took a hit to the shoulder. Pain, but I ignored it.

Lyra was beside me, her healing magic turning into shields. Protecting us both.

But there were too many.

A warlock got past me. He grabbed Lyra’s arm.

“Got her!”

Something in me snapped.

I crossed the room in two steps and drove my dagger into his arm. He screamed and let go.

I pulled Lyra behind me. “Run,” I whispered.

“Not without you,” she said.

Doren was laughing now. “Look at you. A warlock, protecting a witch. Pathetic.”

He raised his hands. Dark magic gathered. Not Order magic. Something worse.

That’s when I understood.

The curse on my sister. It wasn’t from witches.

It was from him.

“You,” I breathed. “You cursed her. To keep me loyal.”

Doren’s smile was ugly. “Smart boy.”

Rage.

Cold, clean rage.

I let go of Lyra’s hand and stepped forward.

“You don’t get to touch her,” I said. Quiet. Deadly.

“And you don’t get to touch my sister again.”

We fought.

It wasn’t magic. It was fury.

Dagger against spell. Training against corruption.

I was bleeding. He was bleeding.

And then I had him on his knees, my blade at his throat.

“Order’s over,” I said. “It ends here.”

Doren looked up at me. And smiled.

“You think this changes anything? The Order will find you. They’ll kill her. They’ll—”

A flash of green light.

Lyra.

She wasn’t behind me anymore.

Her hands were on Doren’s chest. And her magic was pouring into him.

Not to heal.

To bind.

Roots of green light wrapped around his arms, his legs, his mouth.

“You don’t get to hurt anyone else,” she said, voice steady. “Not ever again.”

Doren thrashed. Then went still.

The other warlocks saw it and ran. Cowards.

Silence.

Just the crackle of the fire. And our breathing.

I lowered my dagger. My hands were shaking.

Lyra came to me. She didn’t ask. She just wrapped her arms around me.

I froze.

Then I hugged her back. Tight.

“We did it,” she whispered into my shoulder.

“We did,” I said.

---

An hour later, the cabin was quiet again.

Doren was bound with Lyra’s magic and left for the Order to find. Let them explain it.

Lyra sat by the fire, exhausted. I sat next to her. Close. Not touching. But close.

“My sister,” I said. “Elara. Will you… will you still try?”

Lyra looked at me. Really looked.

“Yes,” she said. “But not because you asked. Because it’s right.”

She bumped my shoulder with hers. “And because I promised. No lies. Remember?”

I did remember.

Outside, the sun was rising. Gold through the trees.

The hunt was over.

Now came the hard part. Saving Elara. Running from the Order. Building something new.

“Where do we go?” Lyra asked.

“Anywhere they’re not,” I said. “Together.”

She nodded. Then, after a moment: “Kael?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you. For saying run.”

I looked at her. Hair tangled. Eyes tired. Hands that saved lives.

“Thank you,” I said, “for being worth running for.”

She blushed. And looked away.

The fire burned low.

The witch I was sent to kill was sitting beside me.

And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid of the future.

We had a curse to break.

An Order to outrun.

And each other.

That would have to be enough.

*END OF CHAPTER 4

"Thank you for reading Arc 1! Should Kael and Lyra go save Elara next, or run and hide first? Comment your choice 👇

Next update: Chapter 5 in 2 days!"