Marcus hurt as he watched Teorin from the shadows. His brother had collapsed, fists dug into the rooftop gravel, shaking with exhaustion. He wasn’t even trying to hide it.

  Marcus wished he knew if that was normal. Did Teorin usually try to hide things like this? He didn’t know. He loved Teorin, but he didn’t know him. Not anymore.

  But he was still familiar. And that was worse. Looking at him tore Marcus between now and the way Teorin’s shoulders curled inward when he was seven and trying not to cry.

  He should leave. He should walk away, now, before Jeron arrived, but his feet wouldn’t move.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  His breath caught as Teorin let out a sort of sobbing breath. Teorin was breaking. And Marcus hadn’t done a thing to stop it. He would just make it worse if he went out there and tried to help.

  Was this better? Had staying really been better if he had to watch this? He knew Teorin was alive, unhurt. And he knew now exactly what he’d done to his brother.

  And somehow, knowing he was the one who made it happen—who’d stayed back, who’d ordered Sasha to take the pages—hurt more than he expected. And he’d expected agony.

  Marcus forced himself to look away. Jeron wasn’t here now, but he doubted that would be true forever. And that… that was a battle Marcus wouldn’t win.

  Marcus slipped into the shadows, footsteps silent. It was a skill he’d learned from Isi. Not invisible, but close enough.

  He’d just won. They’d gotten Kara. Sasha had the pages. Everything went according to plan.

  So why did it feel like losing?

  Arc 2: Echoes of the Past here. Apologies, for the bleak ending, but sometimes shifts happen in the darkest places.

  Arc 3: Traitors to the Clan. This arc will lean into slower reveals and heavier character moments, so the mainline update schedule will shift to two chapters per week (Mon/Wed). That pacing will give those beats room to breathe.

  Apocrypha: The Chaos Annex for Lev to do as he wishes. These entries do not count as canon, and I won’t notify followers when they appear. Think of them as secret files you stumble across while wandering the archive.

  Arc 3 begins Oct 6.

  Lianne Vail, Archivist