Updated Dec 14, 2025 • ~7 min read
CASS
I broke into the witch archives at midnight.
Two days until exile. Two days to find answers Alaric’s documents couldn’t provide.
The archives were protected—wards, locks, spells meant to keep out anyone without explicit permission. But I’d helped ward this building when I was sixteen. Knew every weakness in the magical defenses.
Took me twenty minutes to bypass everything.
The records room smelled like old paper and secrets. Centuries of witch history preserved in leather-bound volumes and scrolls that predated modern record-keeping.
I needed Kael’s file. Everything the pack had on his activities in the months before his death.
Found it in the K section, marked with a red seal: TRAITOR – DO NOT REMOVE.
The pack had condemned him too. Not just the vampires. My own people had decided my brother was guilty.
I opened the file.
Meeting logs. Kael had been traveling frequently—supposedly for diplomatic work, building relationships with other witch packs. But the logs showed gaps. Days unaccounted for. Places he’d been that he never mentioned.
He’d been lying. To me. To Mother. To everyone.
But why?
I dug deeper. Found encrypted letters—ones he’d received, not sent. The encryption was sophisticated. Vampire work, maybe, or something else entirely.
I couldn’t break it. Not without time and resources I didn’t have.
But I photographed everything with my phone. Would analyze it later, or find someone who could.
The next file was more damning: financial records. Kael had been receiving money. Large sums. From untraceable accounts.
Payment for his spying? Or funding for his peace mission?
I needed more context.
Found his personal journal in the back of the file. The one the council had confiscated after his death. The one my mother had begged them to let me read.
They’d refused. Said it would only cause more pain.
Now I understood why.
The journal detailed everything. Kael’s secret work. His meetings with vampire moderates—ones who wanted peace but feared Queen Seraphine’s wrath. His careful infiltration of the radical faction that wanted war.
He’d been playing both sides. Gaining trust from radicals while secretly working with moderates to undermine them.
One entry, dated two months before his death:
“Met with REDACTED today. They’re close to agreeing to a summit. Real negotiations, not the performative bullshit both kingdoms have been doing for decades. If this works—if we can broker actual peace—the Blood Wars could finally end.
But the risks are extreme. Seraphine suspects something. Her spies are watching. I’ve been feeding them false intelligence to keep them off the scent, but it’s only a matter of time before someone figures it out.
If I’m discovered, I’ll be executed. Both sides will see me as a traitor. But if I succeed, thousands of lives will be saved.
Worth it. Whatever happens, it’s worth it.”
Tears blurred my vision. My brother had known. Had accepted that his mission might kill him. Had chosen it anyway because peace mattered more than his life.
I kept reading.
More entries detailing close calls. Times he’d almost been caught. The growing paranoia that Seraphine knew more than she should.
The final entry was dated the day before his arrest:
“Something’s wrong. My contacts have gone silent. The radical faction knows too much—information they shouldn’t have access to. Someone’s feeding them intelligence about MY mission.
I think Seraphine found out. I think she’s setting me up.
If you’re reading this, Cass, I’m probably dead. I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you everything, but involving you would have put you at risk. And I couldn’t bear that.
Don’t mourn me. Don’t rage. Just—finish the work. Peace is possible. Even without me.
The contact list is encrypted in our childhood code. You’ll know how to break it. Find them. Tell them what happened. Make sure the mission continues.
And Cass? Forgive yourself. Whatever happens next, none of this is your fault.
I love you. Always.
-K”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see through the tears. My brother had known he was going to die. Had left me instructions to continue his work.
And I’d been too consumed by grief and rage to look for them.
The childhood code. We’d invented it when we were kids—a simple substitution cipher based on our favorite stories. I could break it in minutes.
I pulled out the encrypted contact list from earlier in the file. Started decoding.
Names emerged. Vampire moderates. Witch peacemakers. Fae mediators. Even a few humans who’d been working toward supernatural cooperation.
One name stood out: Leander Ashford. Vampire. Marked with a heart symbol.
Kael’s lover? Or just a close ally?
Either way, Leander might have answers. Might know the full scope of Kael’s mission. Might be able to help finish what my brother started.
I photographed everything. Returned the file exactly as I’d found it. Erased my magical signature from the wards.
By dawn, I was back in my cabin, surrounded by evidence of my brother’s heroism and the conspiracy that had killed him.
Sage arrived with breakfast and found me still crying.
“What happened?”
I showed her everything. The journal. The contact list. The proof that Kael had been working for peace and Queen Seraphine had orchestrated his execution.
“We have to tell the elders,” Sage said immediately. “Show them he wasn’t a traitor.”
“And say what? That I broke into the archives? That I stole classified documents?” I shook my head. “They’ll exile me faster for that than for the bond.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We find Leander Ashford. We talk to Kael’s contacts. We gather enough evidence that even the council can’t deny the truth.” I looked at the decoded list. “And we finish what my brother started.”
“That’s insane. That’s—that’s exactly what got him killed.”
“I know. But he was right. Peace is possible. And someone has to make it happen.”
“It doesn’t have to be you.”
“Yes, it does.” Because Kael had asked me to. Had trusted me with his life’s work. Had died believing I’d continue the mission. “I owe him this.”
Sage was quiet for a long time. Then: “I’m coming with you.”
“To vampire territory?”
“Someone has to keep you from getting killed. Might as well be me.” She managed a smile. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to stake a vampire queen.”
Despite everything, I laughed. “You’re insane.”
“Says the witch who’s about to join the vampires to take down their queen while mated to her son. Who’s really the insane one here?”
Fair point.
I spent the rest of the day reaching out to the contacts on Kael’s list. Carefully. Using the codes he’d established. Letting them know I was his sister and ready to continue his work.
Three responded positively. Two warned me away. One—Leander—sent a single message:
“Meet me. Tomorrow night. Neutral grounds. Come alone. I’ll tell you everything.”
I sent back coordinates. A clearing on the border between witch and vampire territory. Technically neutral. Dangerous for exactly that reason.
But if Leander had been Kael’s lover, if he knew the full story, the risk was worth it.
One day until exile.
One day until my entire life changed forever.
I sat in my cabin surrounded by my brother’s secrets and made peace with my choice.
I would join the vampires. Work with Alaric. Finish Kael’s mission.
And I would destroy Queen Seraphine if it was the last thing I did.
For Kael. For peace. For all the lives her machinations had cost.
Tomorrow, everything changed.
Tonight, I grieved the life I was leaving behind.
And prepared for war.
Reader Reactions