Kael
I wake to a dull ache in my head.
The cabin is quiet, dim, the fire reduced to embers. My body feels heavy, the blanket over me thick and warm, but it doesn't chase away the cold lodged deep inside my chest.
I shift, and pain lances down my spine, sharp and unforgiving. My breath stutters, and I squeeze my eyes shut, willing it away.
But the memories come back.
The birds. The way their broken bodies twitched, the unnatural pull of their limbs. The black-purple light curling from my fingers, spilling from the edges of my hair.
White hair.
My stomach twists.
Slowly, I force myself to sit up. The room tilts, my vision swimming before it settles.
Elias is sitting across the room, watching me.
I freeze.
His expression is unreadable, but his eyes—his eyes are too sharp, too careful, like he's waiting for something.
My fingers tighten around the blanket. My throat feels dry. "What… happened?"
"You blacked out," Elias says. His voice is steady. Too steady. "The pain hit you, and you collapsed."
I breathe in, then out. I already know that. That's not what I want to ask.
I hesitate. My gaze flickers to my hands, to my fingers curled in the fabric. The memory is too vivid, too real.
The dark light creeping up my skin.
The birds shifting, shuddering, rising from death.
My voice is quieter than I mean it to be. "Why did it happen?"
Elias doesn't answer.
I look up, meeting his gaze. "Why did the dead birds come back?"
Still, nothing.
Then, Elias shifts. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something small, something I recognize immediately.
A pill.
He holds it out to me. "Take this." His voice is calm. Careful. "It'll help."
I stare at him.
His voice is black.
I swallow hard, my pulse hammering against my ribs. "What is it really for?"
Elias doesn't answer right away. His fingers curl tighter around the pill.
I see it—the hesitation, the flicker of something unreadable in his eyes.
I already know.
He's lying. Again.
I stare at him as the silence envelopes us.
—----
Elias
After I slipped the pill into Kael's mouth as he slept—before I saw the dead birds rise, before I realized just how little time I had left—I made my way to Marwen's hut, my mind tangled in questions I couldn't answer.
The village was still awake, even at this hour. The air was sharp with the bite of lingering winter, the full moon shifting in and out of the clouds.
Lanterns flickered in windows, and faint laughter drifted from the tavern, but the center of the square was empty now.
The burnt Veyrn effigy—the one Kael had danced around, smiling like he belonged here—was nothing but ash swept away by the wind now.
For a moment, the town felt like it had before the war. Quiet. Whole.
But the silence did nothing to settle me.
My fingers curled and unfurled at my sides as I walked, my thoughts relentless.
Has his body already started rejecting the pills? Will it happen again, even if he swallows them? How long do they even last? Marwen never told me that. And the pain—where is it coming from?
I press a hand to my temple, the dull ache of exhaustion creeping in.
I need answers. Now.
Before I knew it, her hut loomed in front of me. The wooden structure is half-swallowed by the dark, barely visible between the trees. The lantern outside flickers weakly in the cold wind.
But I'm not the only one here.
Mikael stands in front of Marwen, arms crossed, speaking in low tones with her. His large frame is hard to miss, broad shoulders casting long shadows against the pale glow of the lantern.
I keep my face neutral as I enter the door, and they turn to face me. "Mikael? Didn't think I'd run into you here."
Mikael glances over his shoulder, grinning. "Elias, my old friend." His tone is easy, but there's something weighted beneath it.
"Didn't think I'd see you either. What brings you out to a witch's hut in the middle of the night?"
I shrug. "Could ask you the same."
Mikael chuckles, shaking his head. "Fair." He pats the satchel at his hip. "Got what I needed."
I glance at Marwen. She doesn't meet my eyes. That alone puts me on edge.
Mikael notices my look and grins wider. "Relax. It's just a strength potion."
I raise a brow. "For what?"
Mikael exhales through his nose, rolling his shoulders. "Lord Desivynir's given me a new mission."
That catches my attention.
Lord Hans Desivynir.
The name alone is enough to tighten my chest.
The lord of this region. The warlord who led the final campaign against the Veyrn. Ruthless, strategic, and utterly relentless in his pursuit of wiping them from existence.
They say he never let his soldiers take prisoners—only bodies. He crushed the Veyrn strongholds one by one, burned their cities until there was nothing left but ash. Some call him a hero. Others whisper that he is something else entirely.
Mikael and I fought under his command for years.
And now, if he has work for Mikael, it can't be good.
"What kind of mission?" I ask carefully.
Mikael glances at Marwen, then lowers his voice. "There's been talk."
I stay silent, waiting.
"Soldiers on patrol have found dead birds around the village at night," Mikael continues, voice quieter now. "And then… they get back up."
My blood turns to ice.
Mikael doesn't seem to notice my tension. "We don't know where it's coming from yet. But Lord Desivynir's not taking any chances."
He exhales, crossing his arms. "You know how the stories go. The Veyrn don't just raise people—they don't even have to try. Fear, anger, grief… strong enough emotions can wake the dead right out of the ground."
His voice lowers slightly, eyes narrowing. "If one of them survived the war, who knows what kind of havoc they're wrecking now."
I keep my breathing steady, but my mind races.
Marwen shifts slightly beside me, but she doesn't speak. She doesn't have to.
Mikael studies me. "Come with us."
I shake my head immediately. "No."
His brow furrows. "No?"
"I have other things to take care of."
Mikael scoffs. "Other things? What, hiding away in the woods?" His tone is light, teasing, but I know him too well. There's a thread of suspicion beneath it.
I don't answer.
His eyes narrow slightly. "Elias, this is big. If there's even a chance that a Veyrn survived—"
"There isn't," I say.
Mikael tilts his head. "You sure about that?"
I don't like the way he looks at me.
I hold his gaze. "I'm sure."
A long silence stretches between us.
Then, Mikael sighs and steps back, shaking his head. "Fine. Your loss. But if I were you, I wouldn't get too comfortable out here."
I don't respond.
Mikael watches me for a moment longer, then smirks and strides toward his horse. "Don't disappear too far, Elias."
I don't watch him leave.
The moment the door creaks shut behind us, Marwen exhales sharply. "It's happening, isn't it?"
I press my fingers to my temples. "He spat the pill out."
She doesn't look surprised. "Then it's starting."
I drop into the chair across from her, rubbing a hand over my face. "What do I do?"
Marwen watches me, eyes sharp. "You don't have much time left, Elias." Her voice is calm, but there's something final in it. "If the pills aren't working anymore, there's no delaying it."
She leans forward. "You need to decide now."
"Decide what?" I snap.
Her expression doesn't waver. "Whether you're going to keep protecting that boy's innocence."
She doesn't have to say the other option.
Or whether you're going to die protecting him.
I close my eyes.
I already know my answer.
—----
Kael
The cabin is silent. The only sound is the faint crackling of the dying fire, the soft howl of wind outside.
Elias hasn't answered me.
I watch him carefully. His jaw is tight, his fingers pressed around the pill in his palm. I can see the way his shoulders tense, the way his breath comes slower, steadier—like he's bracing for something.
He's hesitating.
I swallow and lower my gaze to my hands. My fingers curl into the fabric of the blanket draped over my lap, gripping it tightly.
I can still feel the cold outside, the black-purple glow that came from my hands, the way the birds—
I force the thought away. Instead, I whisper, "Your voice was black when you told me the pills were to help me."
Elias stills.
I look up. His expression doesn't change, but I see it in the way his fingers flex, in the slight shift of his posture.
I take a slow breath and speak again, my voice steady but quiet. "I know when you're lying."
A long silence stretches between us. The weight of it presses against my chest.
Elias exhales, running a hand through his hair. His gaze drops, his fingers tightening into fists before he finally looks at me.
His voice is careful, firm. "You're not a devil."
For a second, I almost believe that means I'm safe. That whatever is happening to me—whatever I am—isn't something to fear.
But then Elias finishes.
His voice is low, unwavering. "But you are a Veyrn. The very last one."
The words settle in the air, heavy and inescapable.
And for the first time in a while, when I look at his voice—deep, steady, unshaken—it's clear blue.