44. Rylan
44
RYLAN
T he tunnels smell of damp earth and death.
The walls pulse with a suffocating stillness, broken only by the distant echoes of the fire still raging above.
Seraphina’s breath is too shallow against my chest, her warmth barely clinging to me. I need to get her help. I need to keep moving, but--
I react before thought, my dagger flashing in the dim torchlight, blade to throat, pressing into flesh.
They release a gasp, one that sounds an awful lot like my name.
Vael. The sight of him stirs rage so potent it nearly blinds me. The man I trusted. The man who betrayed me. The man I stabbed and left bleeding in the wreckage.
And yet, here he stands.
"How," I growl, pressing my blade deeper, enjoying the way he flinches.
Vael’s lips curl in a bitter smirk. "You should have aimed higher."
I snarl. I should gut him here, let his insides spill across the dirt.
But then his gaze drops to Seraphina and his smirk vanishes.
"She’s dying." His voice is hoarse, broken.
I don’t need him to tell me that.
I feel her slipping, her body weakening with every second I waste.
Vael swallows. "I know a place."
“I don’t fucking trust you.” I spit violently.
But Seraphina doesn’t have time for my vengeance.
My fingers tighten around the hilt of my dagger.
"Lead me into a trap," I murmur, voice edged with steel, "and I’ll carve you apart so slowly you’ll beg for death."
Vael nods once, and I scoop Seraphina back into my arms to follow. Not because I forgive him. Not because I trust him. But because Seraphina’s life is worth more than my hatred.
The chamber is hidden deep beneath the tunnels, carved into the ruins of a forgotten war.
It’s old. Reinforced. Safe.
Vael locks the door behind us, sealing us from the outside world. I lower Seraphina onto a cot, my hands coated in her blood, her skin paler than I can stand. Vael moves fast, retrieving supplies from a hidden compartment in the wall. He kneels beside her, hands steady, movements practiced.
I watch, my fingers itching on the hilt of my sword.
He shouldn’t be helping her.
He shouldn’t be touching her.
But I let him.
She needs this.
I need her.
Minutes stretch into eternity.
Vael works in silence, cleaning her wound, stitching the torn flesh.
She doesn’t stir.
My heart pounds in my ears.
I hate this.
I hate feeling powerless.
I hate that I might still lose her.
But, slowly, her breathing evens out, and the fever in her skin begins to cool.
She’s not safe. But she’s alive.
I exhale, the weight in my chest not lifting, but settling. Vael moves to the far wall, pressing his hand against a hidden latch. The stone shifts, revealing a compartment filled with parchment, ledgers, letters. He pulls one out, unfolding it with care.
"I didn’t just bring you here to save her," he says.
His voice is flat, emotionless. But his eyes burn. He hands me the first document.
I take it, my fingers tightening as I read. My blood turns to ice.
Nhilian and Lartina. I know they’ve been working together, but not to this extent.
For years. She had a hand in everything, especially in the destruction of my house. Lartina’s truly evil to the roots.
The orchestrators of my family’s destruction.
The ones who set the fire that burned my life to ash.
"That’s not the worst of it," Vael says.
He pulls out another letter, unfolding it slowly.
I take it. I read. And I go very, very still.
Nhilian knows where the treasure cave is. But he’s kept it from Lartina. They use each other, but they don’t trust each other.
There’s a crack in their foundation. An opening.
I lower the letter slowly, feeling something dark and satisfying curl in my gut.
"I can use this," I murmur.
Vael nods. "You can break them."
I exhale, long and slow. For years, I thought Lartina had been a passing betrayal. A wound that had healed.
But no. She was there from the beginning. She was part of it all. She didn’t just help destroy my family, she ensured I would never rise again.
I’m still here.
And I will tear her down.
Piece by piece.
I fold the letter.
My mind is already calculating.
We can pit them against each other. We can turn their weapons inward, and when they’re too busy ripping each other apart…
I will take everything.