She was nearly eleven years Kieran’s junior. They were the most unlikely duo to ever grace the Keep, much less be my closest companions.
But I trusted them with my life. As Shifters, loyalty like theirs wasearned. And once you had it, it would take the fires of hell itself to break it.
“Did you just get back?” Tessa asked, and I nodded. “How did this one go?” Her voice softened as she gave me a concerned look.
I scratched the back of my ear, trying to mask my emotions. “Same as usual.”
“Do you want to talkabout it?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I cleared my throat and pointed to Kieran. “Status report? I don’t have much time. Scarven expects me at the Governor’s House in a couple hours.”
“We shall make it quick, then,” Kieran said. I didn’t miss the way his gaze locked onto Tessa’s for a split second, a silent conversation taking place between the two. “While you were gone, we received intel for a night that Scarven and his guards would be at the eastern docks.”
I leaned forward, my curiosity piqued. “Another cargo shipment?”
He nodded.
“And?” I urged. “Did you find out what he’s been importing?”
“Not exactly.” Kieran shifted on his feet. “I know you’re eager to learn what these shipments entail, but Tessa and I decided to use Scarven’s absence to make another raid.”
He was right, Iwaseager to learn about Scarven’s nighttime rendezvous. The governor of Drakorum had been orchestrating covert imports for a little over a year now, but we hadn’t been able to get a lead onwhatthose ships carried.
Knowing Scarven, it wasn’t anything good.
Illegal weapons that could take out entire empires, hordes of dead bodies, poison, slaughtered animals for sacrifice…my imagination had come up with a plethora of vile things ourdeargovernor would covet.
But much of our attention had been focused on using those nights where he was distracted as opportunities to break into his stronghold for theseraidsKieran mentioned.
Raids, rescue missions—same thing. They had one purpose: get as many of Kane Scarven’s prisoners out as possible.
“You made a good call,” I said with a nod. “How many this time?”
“Nine,” Tessa said, and I let out a low whistle. “Most of them under twenty, some a bit older. He’s added an entirely new wing, and it’sfullof test subjects. We tried to get more out, but thatAlchemist of his is getting smarter with his wards. Even Arowyn couldn’t get inside some of them.”
“That’s still good. At least you saved some. Any more than that would’ve drawn too much attention,” I said.
Bile crept up my throat as I thought about what he was doing to those people. Hisexperiments. People he was supposed to be leading and keeping safe. His underground wings held hundreds of cells bursting with innocents who were subject to his myriad of tests.
Kane Scarven had always had a fascination with Veridian magic—how it worked, what powered it, how it could be changed. He wanted to strip it to its bones. To mutate it, weaponize it, or maybe even erase it entirely.
And he had an entire province at hisdisposal.
He started small, taking only those nobody would notice had gone missing. Homeless, elderly, orphans—sporadically and with caution, so as not to raise alarm.
But then he grew bolder. Over the past five years, I’d seen more and more innocents ripped from their homes and sent to his laboratories. Families exiled when they tried to get their loved ones back. Bodies from failed tests piled higher than the tower of my Keep.
People were too scared to stand against him, knowing their loved ones could be next to go.
It had become my mission to fight for them. To save as many innocents from their fate as I could.
Because I’d once been one of them.
“How are the new refugees settling in?” I asked. Long ago, we’d turned the Keep into a safehouse for those we rescued to live and heal. I had built upon my seaside home until it was hardly recognizable—an enormous manor with enough wings to host dozens and dozens of refugees, kept safe from Scarven’s prying eyes by protective enchantments.
We always debriefed in our “workshop,” a large room on the first level made of black brick walls and wooden floors.It was a sanctuary and a war room all in one, with space crafted for each of us to feel at home in the unsteadiness of our line of work. The walls were lined with herbs and tinctures for Alchemy, books and maps, and weapons for target practice, all humming with magic.
It made the perfect headquarters for my little group, the Veridians dedicated to keeping this province safe from our governor. The Ashen Order. Each of us with blood on one hand and justice in the other, willing to risk our lives to undo the terror Kane Scarven had rained down on us in the last two decades.
