Page 187 of Shadowvein

“We have to help them!” Fear turns my voice shrill.

"We can't." Mira catches my arm, yanking me back down. "There are too many. We'd be captured alongside them."

"But Sacha—" The connection between us flares to life, violent and unsteady—his emotions bleeding into mine—determination, calculation, and beneath it all, a terrible resolve.

"Will expect us to keep you safe above all else," Mira insists. "That's why we separated in Ashenvale. Your safety was paramount in his planning."

The ambush below reaches its culmination as soldiers close to within striking distance. Sacha's stance shifts, shoulders squaring ashe faces Sereven directly. Shadows gather around him, swirling and darkening even at this distance. I canfeelthe air pulling tight.

"He's going to fight," Mishak says, torn between admiration and horror. "Against those numbers ..."

Mira’s breath catches. “He was like this once.” Her voice is low and fierce. “Before the prison carved the fire out of him. Reckless. Defiant. Ready to challenge the world with nothing but his will.”

Her hand tightens on my arm. “And if he unleashes it now… it will not be calculation, it will be fury.”

There’s not just light burning inside me now, there’s a storm surging against the dam of my body. A pressure too vast to contain. My skin hums with it, my teeth ache from it.

And under it all, under the panic and rage, words from a dream whisper through my mind.

Where shadow leads, storm will follow.

Chapter Thirty-Six

SACHA

“Even silence has a memory. Even silence wants to be heard.”

Reflections on Captivity—Sacha Torran’s Journals

They emergefrom positions that shadows don’t reach. Not the opportunistic patrol I initially assumed, but an ambush designed specifically for me. Each soldier placed to funnel movement toward a killing zone.

“Varam.” I keep my voice low, while I count enemies.

Twenty-three.

No.

Twenty-four.

“When I create an opportunity, run northeast.Don’targue.”

His spine stiffens, jaw setting into a familiar stubborn line I’ve seen countless times across battlefields and council tables. Years of commanding alone hasn’t dulled his loyalty to me, his instinct to remain at my side, regardless of odds. “I won’t leave?—”

“Yes, youwill.” Darkness pools around my feet, tendrils of shadow moving outward across the forest floor like living things. “One of us must reach theothers.”

My unspoken message is clear. Someone needs to get back to Ellie. Someone must ensure her safety when I cannot. His eyes narrow, understanding warring with friendship and loyalty.

“Why is she so important to you?”

“Because she sees me when others don’t.” A blunt truth. Stripped down. The reality is deeper. She awakens something in me I thought long dead. She sees beyond the masks I've worn for so long.

I don’t say anything more because, across the clearing, a figure emerges from the assembled soldiers.

Unlike the others, he wears traditional crimson robes with gold threading at the cuffs. His silver-streaked black hair catches what little sunlight remains. Even after all this time, I recognize him immediately.

Sereven.

The last twenty-seven years disappear in an instant. His was the last face I saw before the tower sealed me inside.

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