Chapter 24

The morning after the council’s uneasy truce, the air in Ebonveil felt different. Lighter in some ways, heavier in others. Patrols had doubled, wolves and vampires walking side by side in stiff, silent lines. The tension was a living thing, a silent creature stalking the streets.

Kael found me in the courtyard, already armed. His movements were deliberate, his gaze sharp, as if measuring the distance between every threat before it could even step into view.

“We’re leaving,” he said without preamble.

“Leaving where?”

“The Borderlands.”

I blinked. “The place no one goes because it’s a death trap?”

His mouth curved in a humorless smile. “Exactly. That’s where I saw those markings before. If there are answers, they’ll be there.”

Lucien arrived just as Kael finished speaking, his dark cloak trailing like spilled ink across the stones. “And you didn’t think to invite me?” he asked, arching a brow.

“I didn’t think you’d want to get your hands dirty,” Kael said dryly.

Lucien smirked. “For Astrid? I’ll make an exception.”

Kael’s jaw ticked. “She’s not—”

I cut in before they could start again. “If there are answers in the Borderlands, we should all go. Fighting over it wastes time.”

Kael didn’t like it. Lucien knew it. But in the end, he only said, “Fine. Stay close to me.”

I pretended not to notice Lucien’s amused glance.

The journey out of Ebonveil took most of the day. The farther we went, the thinner the trees became, their skeletal branches clawing at the pale sky. The air grew colder, the soil beneath our boots turning to hard, cracked earth.

By the time we crossed into the Borderlands proper, the sun was low, bleeding orange light across the horizon. The land here was barren, stripped of life, as if something had drained it dry centuries ago.

Kael halted at a ridge, scanning the jagged valley below. “The ruins are there,” he said, nodding toward a scatter of stone half-buried in shadow.

I followed his gaze and frowned. The ruins looked like the bones of some massive creature—arches and pillars jutting from the ground at odd angles, broken walls still etched with faint, unfamiliar symbols.

As we descended, Lucien kept pace beside me. “You know,” he murmured, “Kael doesn’t bring just anyone here.”

“I’m flattered,” I said. “But I think it’s more about necessity than sentiment.”

“Maybe.” His crimson eyes flicked toward Kael ahead of us. “Or maybe you’ve gotten under his skin.”

I didn’t answer, partly because Kael glanced back just then. His gaze lingered on me before shifting to the ruins again.

Inside the ruins, the air was still and heavy. Dust motes drifted in the fading light, settling on stone that felt older than memory. Strange markings—like the ones we’d seen on the students—were carved deep into the walls, pulsing faintly when I stepped closer.

“This magic feels wrong,” I murmured, tracing one symbol without touching it.

“Because it is,” Kael said, coming to stand beside me. “It feeds on blood, but not in the way we do. It takes the life beneath the blood.”

Lucien moved along the opposite wall, running his fingers just above the carvings. “Ancient war magic. This predates the first vampire packs.”

Kael nodded grimly. “And it’s not dead. Someone’s using it again.”

Before I could ask how that was possible, the air shifted—cooler, sharper. I felt it like a prick along the back of my neck.

“We’re not alone,” Kael said, his voice low.

Shadows moved in the corners of the ruin. Not wolves, not vampires—these were something else entirely. Tall, thin, with skin stretched tight over bones, eyes like shards of ice. They moved unnaturally, as if the air itself bent to carry them.

Lucien’s blade flashed first, silver singing in the stillness. Kael was already moving, his sword in one hand, his other arm sweeping me back behind him.

“I can fight,” I protested, reaching for my dagger.

“Not these,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

But I didn’t listen. The nearest creature lunged, and I met it with steel, ducking low as its claws raked the air where my throat had been. My blade sank into its side—not deep, but enough to make it stagger.

Kael’s growl was sharp and immediate. “Astrid!”

“I’m fine,” I shot back, even as my pulse thundered.

Lucien dispatched another creature with casual grace, his movements almost bored despite the speed and precision of his strikes. “You two can flirt later,” he said lightly. “We’re surrounded.”

Kael’s response was a curse in his native tongue as he cut through another attacker.

The fight was fast, brutal, and strange—the creatures moved like water, their limbs bending too far, their wounds closing too quickly. But when the last one fell, the silence that followed felt heavier than before.

Kael turned to me, his eyes blazing. “When I tell you to stay back—”

“I had it under control,” I interrupted.

His voice dropped, dangerous and low. “You could have been killed.”

“And you think I’ll survive this world by hiding behind you?”

Something shifted in his expression then—not anger, but something darker, sharper. “You make me forget myself,” he said quietly.

Lucien cleared his throat pointedly. “Much as I enjoy watching you two smolder at each other, we should leave before more arrive.”

We camped on the ridge that night, the ruins below us like broken teeth in the moonlight. Kael kept watch, though I knew he hadn’t truly stopped since we entered the Borderlands.

At some point, I moved to sit beside him. The firelight threw gold into his eyes, softening the hard lines of his face.

“You’re still angry,” I said.

“Not angry,” he replied after a moment. “Just… reminded of what I can lose.”

The words caught me off guard. “You mean the Accord?”

“I mean you.”

My breath hitched. He didn’t look at me when he said it, but the weight of his meaning settled between us.

“I can take care of myself,” I said, softer this time.

“I know. That’s the problem.”

We sat in silence after that, the fire popping softly. I thought about telling him how his presence had become something I leaned on without realizing it, how the idea of him not being there felt… wrong.

Instead, I said, “You should rest.”

He glanced at me then, a faint smile touching his lips. “If I close my eyes, you’ll just go looking for trouble.”

“Maybe.”

His hand brushed mine briefly—accidentally, maybe not. The touch lingered in my skin long after he looked away.

At dawn, we returned to the ruins to search for anything the night’s attack might have left behind. In one collapsed chamber, I found a fragment of stone etched with a more complete version of the markings.

Lucien leaned over my shoulder, his breath warm against my ear. “That,” he said, “isn’t just a binding. It’s a summons.”

“A summons for what?”

“Something that makes the creatures we fought look… harmless.”

Kael took the fragment from me, wrapping it in cloth before tucking it into his pack. “Then we need to move faster. If someone’s bringing that here, the Accord won’t matter. Nothing will.”

As we left the Borderlands, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being followed.

And worse—I couldn’t tell if the shadow trailing us belonged to an enemy… or if it was the past Kael refused to talk about.

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