The East Gate Breach
1354 Words
“She asked for me by name?” Kaelin’s voice rang across the war hall like steel dragged over stone.
“Yes,” the guard confirmed, still catching his breath. “Not the King. Not the court. Just you.”
Thorne’s gaze had darkened the moment the message came. Now, he stood beside her at the map table, arms crossed as the flame-lit shadows carved deeper lines across his jaw.
“Describe her,” Kaelin said.
“She’s cloaked. Hooded. Alone. She came to the gate and called your name three times before sitting down in the sand. No weapons drawn. No backup.”
Kaelin’s fingers tapped the hilt of her blade. “Suicidal or bait.”
“Or both,” Thorne added.
“I want eyes on the rooftops,” Kaelin said. “Archers stationed high, but no arrows drawn unless I give the word.”
“You’re going down there yourself?” Varek asked from the far side of the table.
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
“It’s a trap.”
“I hope so,” she said. “It’s been a boring morning.”
Thorne stepped forward. “You don’t go alone.”
Kaelin met his eyes. “I’m not yours to protect.”
“And I’m not yours to shake off.”
They stared each other down. Then, together, they moved.
The East Gate towered like the open maw of a beast carved into obsidian stone. Guards lined the edges, eyes fixed on the figure seated cross-legged in the sand thirty feet from the threshold.
Kaelin stepped forward. The woman didn’t move.
Wind whipped Kaelin’s coat behind her, revealing the twin swords strapped to her back. Thorne followed silently, no sword in hand, but every inch of his stance lethal.
The woman lifted her head as they approached. Her hood fell back.
Kaelin froze.
“You,” she whispered.
The woman stood. “Hello, sister.”
Whispers surged behind the guards.
Kaelin didn’t blink. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
“I was,” the woman replied. “You left me there.”
“You fell,” Kaelin snapped. “There was nothing left.”
“There was everything left. You just didn’t look hard enough.”
Thorne’s voice cut in. “Who is she?”
Kaelin didn’t take her eyes off the woman. “My littermate. My first betrayal.”
The woman smiled. “I’ve come to finish it.”
Then she threw something in the air.
A rune carved in blood. It exploded midair, releasing a burst of light and darkness.
Kaelin lunged
But the world vanished in a roar of flame.
“I told you to stand back!” Kaelin’s voice was hoarse as she emerged from the smoke, eyes burning, hair wild from the shockwave.
Thorne moved to shield her as the archers repositioned. “And let you be blown apart by a blood rune? That wasn’t the plan.”
“I don’t need your damn protection!” she snarled, shoving him back. “I had her.”
“You had nothing. She baited you and vanished.”
“She wanted me angry. She wanted this.”
“Then she got it,” he said coldly. “Because now she’s declared herself enemy of the throne.”
Kaelin paced the wreckage of the outer gates. The sand was scorched black. A few guards were injured no fatalities. But her mind was spinning.
“She was dead,” she muttered. “I saw her fall. Her neck ”
“You’re sure it was her?”
“I don’t forget voices,” Kaelin snapped. “And I don’t forget the look of betrayal in her eyes.”
Varek approached, voice low. “Gate magic is down. They breached the outer wards.”
“How long until it’s rebuilt?” Thorne asked.
“Two nights. Minimum.”
“Then we double patrols. No one leaves or enters the palace.”
Kaelin clenched her fists. “She’s not finished.”
Thorne looked at her. “Neither are we.”
Inside the palace, the council gathered again this time with panic in their eyes.
“She cannot remain here,” Rael declared. “Her presence invites attack.”
“She didn’t cause this,” Thorne said, voice like ice. “She responded to it.”
“Your Majesty,” another noble interjected, “we sympathize with your position ”
“You sympathize with your own survival,” Kaelin cut in. “Let’s not pretend otherwise.”
Heads turned.
“You think removing me will end the threat?” she asked. “She came for me, yes. But the moment you cast me out, you become the bait.”
Rael stepped forward. “She is your blood. Your past. Your darkness.”
“She’s my mistake,” Kaelin said.
Thorne watched her with new interest.
“She taught me that the closest ones to you are the ones who’ll cut deepest,” Kaelin added, voice quieter. “So I suggest you don’t get too close.”
A hush fell.
Then Thorne spoke.
“She remains.”
The council murmured. Some objected. Others stayed silent.
“I said,” Thorne repeated, “she stays.”
His voice left no room for argument.
That night, Kaelin sat alone in the North Wing, her window open to the wind.
She didn’t sleep. She didn’t move.
Until the scent hit the air again.
Not her sister.
Someone else.
Inside the palace.
Behind her.
A whisper brushed her neck.
“You should never have come back.”
She turned, but it was too late.
A blade slashed across her shoulder.
And she fell into darkness.
“She was attacked inside the palace,” Varek said, voice sharp, hands braced on the edge of the strategy table.
“Where?” Thorne demanded.
“North Wing. Her quarters.”
“Status?”
“She’s alive. Wounded. Stable.”
Thorne’s jaw tightened. “No one touches her again.”
“She’s already asked for the Trial to begin.”
Thorne stared. “Now?”
Varek nodded. “Bleeding arm and all.”
The Trial Grounds had been sealed for decades last used to crown Thorne himself. Now, the ceremonial pit glowed under torchlight, filled with carved stone, rune symbols, and one woman standing in the center with blood still dripping from her shoulder.
Kaelin wore no armor.
Only leathers and defiance.
“You sure about this?” Thorne asked, stepping to the edge of the arena.
“You’re going to keep asking me that?” she shot back.
“You were just stabbed.”
“And I’m still standing.”
He looked at the gash on her arm. “You need time.”
“I need this,” she said. “If they see me bleed and still fight they’ll stop questioning what I am.”
“And what are you?”
She met his eyes. “Your nightmare. Their salvation.”
She stepped into the center of the circle. The crowd gathered around the pit the nobles, the guards, the hungry-eyed challengers chosen to test her strength.
The bell rang.
The first opponent entered.
An Alpha from the River Fangs. Tall, broad, battle-scarred.
He didn’t speak.
He just attacked.
Kaelin moved fast ducked low, rolled, came up swinging. Her blade caught his arm. He grunted, twisted, grabbed her injured shoulder.
Pain lanced down her spine.
She drove her knee into his gut.
He staggered.
She spun and slammed the hilt of her blade into the base of his neck.
He dropped.
The crowd gasped.
One down.
The next came.
Then the next.
Each stronger than the last.
By the fourth, Kaelin was bleeding from two new cuts, lip split, jaw bruised.
But she hadn’t fallen.
Then the final challenger entered.
Tall. Hooded.
Feminine.
Kaelin froze.
The woman pulled back the hood.
It was her.
Her sister.
Smiling.
And armed.
The crowd erupted in confusion.
Thorne stepped forward. “This isn’t part of the ”
Kaelin raised a hand.
“I accept.”
And she charged, blades drawn, as the crowd screamed and the blood moon rose above them.
- Writer
