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Rin's lungs burned before she even opened her eyes.
Not again.
She dragged air in through her teeth and sat up too fast. The cell spun. Her wrists ached where the chains had been an hour ago—no, a day ago. A lifetime ago. The stone floor was cold under her palms. Real. Solid. She pressed down hard enough to feel the grit bite into her skin.
The door was still locked. The torch outside her cell still guttered in its bracket. Same shadows. Same rust smell. Same everything.
Except this time, she remembered dying.
Not the execution. The other thing. The soul prison. Varric's voice in the dark, calm as someone ordering tea. The cold that went deeper than her bones. And then—
Nothing.
She'd woken up here. Again.
Rin shoved herself to her feet and paced three steps to the wall, three steps back. Her legs shook. She counted her breaths. Four in, four out. Her mother's trick for panic. It didn't work anymore. Nothing worked when the panic was justified.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor.
She froze.
Not guards. Guards stomped. These steps were too light, too deliberate. Someone who didn't want to be heard but didn't care if she heard.
The lock clicked.
Kael stepped inside and shut the door behind him. No torch. No escort. Just him in the half-dark, still wearing the formal blacks from the council chamber. He looked like he hadn't slept. Good. She hoped he hadn't.
"You're awake," he said.
"What gave it away?"
His mouth thinned. He crossed the cell in two strides and crouched in front of her, eye level. Close enough that she could see the fine lines at the corners of his eyes, the shadow of stubble along his jaw. Close enough that his breath was warm on her face.
"How many times?" he asked.
Her throat locked up. She stared at him. At the scar bisecting his left eyebrow. At the way his gaze didn't waver.
"What?"
"How many times have you reset?"
The air left her lungs in a rush. She wanted to lie. She wanted to ask how the hell he knew. She wanted to grab him by the collar and shake him until he explained why he kept showing up, kept whispering codes, kept acting like he gave a damn when he was the one who'd ordered her death in the first place.
Instead she said, "Three."
Kael's jaw tightened. He glanced at her hands. She realized she was gripping her own wrists, nails digging in where the chain marks should be. She forced herself to let go.
"The soul prison," he said. Not a question.
"How do you—"
"Because I was there." His voice was flat. "Varric used it. Midnight. You fought him for six minutes before your heart stopped."
Six minutes. She'd felt every second.
Rin swallowed. Her mouth tasted like copper. "Then why am I here?"
"I don't know." He straightened and turned away, one hand raking through his hair. "But every time you come back, you lose something. Don't you?"
She didn't answer. Didn't need to. The way her fingers trembled gave her away.
"What did you lose this time?" he asked.
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Tried again.
"I don't know," she said finally. "That's the problem. I don't know what I'm forgetting until it's gone."
Kael turned back to face her. The torchlight from the corridor caught the edge of his profile, carved him out of shadow and firelight. He looked older than he had that morning. Tired. Angry.
"Then we don't have much time," he said.
"Time for what?"
"To get you out."
Rin laughed. It came out bitter and sharp. "Right. The enemy prince is going to break the traitor out of her cell. That'll go over well."
"I'm serious."
"So am I." She shoved off the wall and closed the space between them. He didn't step back. "You want me to trust you? Fine. Tell me why you're doing this. Tell me what my mother said to you. Tell me why you keep showing up like you're the only one who knows the script."
His gaze dropped to her mouth, then back up. A flicker of something she couldn't name. "Your mother asked me to keep you alive."
"My mother's been dead for fifteen years."
"I know."
The words hung between them. Rin's pulse hammered in her throat. She wanted to hit him. She wanted to grab his collar and make him explain every single thing that didn't add up. She wanted—
She fisted the front of his coat instead.
The fabric was warm under her fingers. Expensive. Soft enough to be useless in a fight. He didn't move. Didn't pull away. Just stood there and let her hold on like he was the only solid thing in a room that kept shifting under her feet.
"If I reset again," she said, voice low and raw, "I might forget you. I might forget why I'm supposed to care. So if that happens—if I wake up and I don't know your name—you tell me. Every time. You hear me?"
Kael's hand came up and covered hers. His palm was warm. Calloused. The kind of hand that knew how to hold a sword and how to sign a death warrant.
"I'll tell you," he said.
"Promise."
"I promise."
She should've let go. She didn't.
His thumb brushed over her knuckles, a touch so light she almost missed it. She felt it anyway. Felt the heat of him, the barely-there pressure, the way his gaze tracked her face like he was memorizing her. Like he thought she might disappear.
Maybe she would.
"Varric's coming for you again," Kael said quietly. "Tomorrow night. The council voted."
"Of course they did."
"But he won't get the chance."
Rin's fingers tightened on his coat. "What are you planning?"
"Something stupid."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I've got."
She wanted to argue. Wanted to demand a real plan, a backup, something that didn't sound like a last-ditch gamble. But the look in his eyes stopped her. He wasn't joking. He wasn't bluffing. He was just—
Scared.
She'd never seen him scared before.
"Don't die in there," she said. It came out softer than she meant. "Whatever you're doing. Don't die."
Kael's mouth curved, not quite a smile. "I could say the same to you."
"I've already died three times. I'm getting good at it."
"That's not funny."
"Wasn't trying to be."
He stepped back. Her hand fell away from his coat. The air between them felt colder without him there.
"I'll come for you before dawn," he said. "Be ready."
"Ready for what?"
"To run."
He turned toward the door.
That's when the explosion hit.
The cell door blew inward in a spray of splinters and smoke. Rin threw herself sideways. Kael moved faster, yanking her down and covering her with his body as debris rained over them. Her ears rang. Her eyes burned. She couldn't see anything except smoke and the orange flicker of flames.
Kael hauled her upright. His mouth was moving but she couldn't hear him. Couldn't hear anything except the high-pitched whine in her skull.
Then the smoke cleared enough to see.
A figure stood in the doorway. Black mask. Black coat. Blade in one hand, still dripping something dark and oily. The hilt gleamed in the firelight.
Rin's stomach dropped.
She knew that hilt. Knew the design. The crossed phoenixes, wings spread, talons locked.
Her family seal.
The assassin tilted their head. Studied her. Then raised the blade.
Kael shoved her behind him.
The last thing Rin saw before the assassin moved was the way the firelight caught the edge of that seal. The way it burned.
The way it looked exactly like the signet ring her mother used to wear.