In the flickering candlelight the words carved into the altar seemed to bleed.
Let’s Have Fun.
No signature.
No explanation.
Only assurance.
Kael knelt beside the inscription, fingers a fraction of an inch above the grooves without touching them.
“New.
Seraphina nodded.
“I The stone dust has not settled. He wanted us to find it.”He wanted us to locate it.” Seraphina corrected.
Kael glanced at her.
“Do you think the message is for the both of us?I know it is.
Mira shook violently behind them.He wrote it after he tied me up.
Seraphina turned instantly.
““You saw him?”
The young maid swallowed.
“I never saw his face.”His voice?’
She hesitated.It was… strange.” “Strange how?
“It was like there was more than one person speaking.
Kael scowled .“A disguise. ”No.” Mira shook her head.
“It wasn’t a fake.”
She folded her arms.
“It was… wrong.”
Seraphina exchanged a glance with Kael.
Fear couldn’t create details like that.
Mira believed every word she was saying.
Kael stood.
“We’re leaving.”
As he turned toward the chapel doors, Seraphina’s gaze caught something beneath the broken altar.
A tiny glimmer.
She knelt.
Hidden between two cracked stones was a silver ring.
Plain.
Worn.
The inside carried a single engraved symbol.
A crescent moon pierced by a vertical line.
Her heart skipped.
She had seen that mark before.
Not in this life.
On the execution platform.
The executioner had worn the same ring.
Before she could examine it further, Kael spoke.
“What did you find?”
Without thinking, Seraphina slipped the ring into her sleeve.
“Nothing useful.”
The lie came too quickly.
Kael noticed.
He said nothing.
By the time they returned to the manor, evening had settled over the estate.
The atmosphere inside had changed.
No one laughed.
No one lingered in the hallways.
Guards stood at every entrance.
Lord Vale had turned the manor into a fortress.
The moment Kael entered, the captain approached.
“Alpha.” “Report.” “We searched every building.” “And?” “No intruders.”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“That’s impossible.” “I know.”
The captain lowered his voice.
“It’s as though whoever entered…” “…was never here.”
Seraphina stopped walking.
Never here.
That was exactly what the enemy wanted.
No witnesses.
No evidence.
Only fear.
Lord Vale emerged from his study.
“You found Mira?” “Alive,” Kael answered.
Relief crossed Lord Vale’s face.
“Thank the Moon Goddess.” “For now,” Seraphina said quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
She continued.
“Whoever planned this didn’t fail.” “They succeeded.”
Lord Vale frowned.
“How?” “They proved they can enter the estate whenever they want.”
Silence followed.
No one could argue.
Because she was right.
The enemy hadn’t come to kill today.
He had come to make them afraid.
And fear spread faster than blood.
Late that night…
Seraphina stood alone on the balcony outside her room.
The storm had finally passed.
Moonlight spilled across the gardens below.
Sleep refused to come.
Too many questions.
Too few answers.
She removed the silver ring from her sleeve.
Holding it beneath the moonlight, she studied the engraving once more.
The symbol seemed almost familiar.
Not because of the execution.
Because of something older.
Something buried deep within memories she couldn’t fully reach.
A voice drifted from the darkness below.
“You kept it.”
Seraphina spun around.
Her dagger was already in her hand.
Kael stepped out from the shadows of the neighboring balcony.
His hands remained at his sides.
“You saw.”
It wasn’t a question.
“You hid something in the chapel.”
Seraphina remained silent.
Kael sighed.
“I wasn’t trying to expose you.” “Then why follow me?” “Because every answer raises two new questions.”
He looked directly at her.
“And somehow…” “…you’re always one step ahead.”
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Finally, Seraphina held out the ring.
“I don’t know what it means.”
Kael accepted it carefully.
The moment his fingers touched the metal…
His expression changed.
He stared at the symbol.
“I’ve seen this.”
Seraphina’s pulse quickened.
“Where?”
Kael looked up slowly.
“When I was a child.”
He turned the ring over once.
“My father ordered every record of this symbol destroyed.”
The words struck her like lightning.
“Why?” “He said anyone wearing it…”
Kael’s voice became unusually quiet.
“…belonged to an organization that should never have existed.”
A cold wind swept across the balcony.
Before Seraphina could ask another question…
A sharp whistle cut through the night.
Kael’s instincts reacted instantly.
“Down!”
He shoved Seraphina sideways.
A black arrow tore through the space where she had been standing.
It struck the stone pillar behind her with a violent crack.
The shaft vibrated.
Embedded just beneath its iron tip…
Was another black feather.
Kael drew his sword in one fluid motion.
“Stay behind me.”
Seraphina ignored him and looked toward the estate wall.
A lone figure stood silhouetted against the full moon.
Tall.
Motionless.
Watching them.
For one brief second…
Their eyes met across the darkness.
Then the stranger slowly raised one hand.
Not in greeting.
Not in threat.
In invitation.
And disappeared into the night.