Chapter 9: The price of truth
1244 Words
Kai’s blood dripped onto the rooftop, splattering against the faded concrete.
Aria tore a piece from her shirt and pressed it against the wound, her hands shaking.
“Hold still—please,” she whispered.
Kai hissed in pain but didn’t pull away.
In fact, he didn’t take his eyes off her the entire time.
“You’re scared,” he murmured softly.
She didn’t deny it.
“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered before she could stop herself.
Kai’s breath caught—just for a second.
Then Mandlenkosi interrupted sharply.
“Let’s move. They’ll be on this roof in under a minute.”
Aria helped Kai to his feet.
He winced but nodded.
“I’m good,” he said, even though he clearly wasn’t.
They crossed the rooftop quickly, slipping into a broken skylight on the next building.
Inside was an old textile factory, abandoned years ago. Dust covered the machines, and the air smelled like rust and cold metal.
For a moment, everything was quiet.
Too quiet.
Aria rubbed her forehead.
The memory her mother forced into her mind earlier had left something behind—an echo.
A feeling.
Like she wasn’t alone in her own thoughts.
“Kai?” Her voice trembled. “What if my mother wasn’t lying? What if I really was… trained? Used? What if Mandlenkosi stole me from something I was meant to do?”
Kai stepped closer.
“Aria, you’re not a weapon.”
“You don’t know that.”
His jaw flexed.
Then—
“Yes. I do.”
His voice didn’t shake when he said it.
Mandlenkosi sighed. “Aria, please don’t let her get into your head. That’s exactly what she wants.”
Aria turned to him, anger rising.
“She’s still my mother.”
“No,” Mandlenkosi snapped. “She abandoned you.”
Aria stepped back, hurt striking her deeper than any bullet.
“Maybe she left for a reason you never told me.”
Mandlenkosi’s face darkened.
Kai stepped between them before the argument exploded.
“Stop. Both of you. This is what they want. Division. Fear. We don’t have time for that.”
Aria’s chest tightened.
Her mind felt like a fractured mirror.
The truth was hunting her from every direction.
Mandlenkosi walked toward the door. “We need to get off the streets. I know a safehouse.”
But he didn’t reach it.
A metallic click echoed through the factory.
Aria froze.
Kai froze.
So did Mandlenkosi.
Then—
A spotlight snapped on.
Bright and blinding.
A tall figure stood on the overhead catwalk, the spotlight behind them casting a cold silhouette.
Aria felt her stomach drop.
She knew that silhouette.
“Kai…” she whispered.
It wasn’t a soldier.
It wasn’t her mother.
It was someone worse.
Someone Kai never wanted Aria to meet.
“Hello, little sister,” the figure said.
Aria’s breath stopped.
Sister?
No. No. She only had Mandlenkosi. He was the only family she knew.
The figure stepped forward, revealing her face—
Sharp cheekbones.
Dark eyes.
A cruel confidence.
A familiar scar near the brow.
Aria’s heart shattered.
She looked exactly like Aria…
but older…
and colder.
Mandlenkosi swore under his breath.
Kai didn’t blink.
Aria blinked rapidly. “I… I don’t know you.”
“Oh, but I know you,” the woman said. “You were the favorite. The chosen successor. The one Mother said could reshape the entire Veil.”
Mandlenkosi growled, “Lerato, stay back.”
Aria stared at him in shock.
“You know her?”
Kai spoke first, voice low. “Everyone in The Veil knows Lerato. She’s their best assassin.”
Lerato smirked.
“Oh, Kai. Still pretending you’re not part of us?”
Kai tensed. “Those days are over.”
“Not from where I’m standing.”
Aria stepped back, dizzy.
Kai used to be part of The Veil.
Lerato was her sister.
Her mother wasn’t trying to kill her—she was trying to reclaim her.
Everything was upside down.
Everything hurt.
Mandlenkosi stepped forward, protective as always.
“You stay away from her,” he warned.
Lerato raised a brow.
“You’re one to talk, brother.”
That one word hit Aria like a slap.
“Brother?” she repeated, staring at Mandlenkosi.
He didn’t deny it.
Lerato smiled darkly.
“Oh? He didn’t tell you we’re blood? He didn’t tell you he stole you? That he betrayed us all?”
Aria shook her head slowly.
“No… no, Mandlenkosi wouldn’t—”
“Aria,” he said gently, “I took you because—”
“Because you wanted her for yourself,” Lerato cut in. “You wanted her loyalty. Her gifts. Mother chose her, not you.”
Aria’s heart cracked.
Mandlenkosi clenched his fists. “I saved her.”
“You stole her.”
“No!” Mandlenkosi shouted.
The argument escalated fast—
emotion, betrayal, hurt—
But Aria suddenly felt something else.
Heat in her chest.
Pressure behind her eyes.
A buzzing under her skin.
Her breathing quickened.
Kai saw it first.
“Aria? What’s happening to you?”
She stumbled.
Lerato smirked. “Ah. It’s starting.”
Aria gasped, clutching her temples.
“What—what’s happening to me?!”
Lerato stepped closer.
“You were trained to hold power. Mother locked it away so it wouldn’t kill you. But now that it’s waking up…”
Aria screamed.
A blast of air shot outward, flinging metal tools across the factory.
Kai grabbed her shoulders. “Aria, breathe. Look at me. Stay with me—”
But her vision blurred.
Voices warped.
The room twisted.
She saw flashes of memories that weren’t hers—
A training room.
Her mother’s cold smile.
A girl who looked like Lerato watching from a distance.
Aria as a child, hitting targets blindfolded.
Mandlenkosi carrying her in the rain, whispering, “I’ll protect you.”
Then everything snapped back.
Aria collapsed into Kai’s arms, gasping for air.
Lerato watched her with fascination.
“She’s waking up,” she whispered. “Mother will be pleased.”
Kai pulled Aria behind him. “She’s not going with you.”
“Oh?” Lerato’s smile widened. “And who’s going to stop me? You?”
Mandlenkosi raised his gun.
“I will.”
“And I’ll end you,” Lerato replied calmly.
Aria forced herself to stand, still weak but determined.
“You’re not taking me anywhere.”
Lerato tilted her head.
“You really think you have a choice?”
Aria didn’t answer.
She just took a step forward.
Kai reached for her hand without hesitation.
Mandlenkosi moved in front of her protectively.
Lerato smiled.
A cold, knowing smile.
“Little sister…”
She lifted her hand.
And suddenly—
The entire factory shook.
Not from Aria.
From outside.
Bombs.
Explosions.
Soldiers shouting.
Lights flickering.
The Veil had arrived.
And they were not coming to negotiate.
They were coming to take her.
Alive.
Or in pieces.
Aria looked at Kai. “What do we do?”
He tightened his grip on her hand.
“We fight.”
Mandlenkosi chambered a round.
“We run.”
Lerato smirked.
“You kneel.”
And outside…
a voice echoed through a speaker system.
A voice Aria recognized instantly.
Her mother’s.
“ARIA,” it boomed.
“COME OUT.”
Aria’s heart dropped.
Kai’s eyes widened.
Mandlenkosi swore.
Lerato smiled.
And the chapter ends there.
- Writer
