21. Bonds of Blood

The scent of death clung to the air. Bodies of the fallen assassins lay scattered across the temple grounds, their lifeless eyes staring into the void. The once-sacred ruins had become a battlefield, the echoes of clashing steel still ringing in Yue Rin's ears.

She stood amidst the carnage, her sword slick with blood, her breath ragged. Across from her, Ao Ling lowered her blade, her expression unreadable.

"You hesitated," Yue Rin said, her voice low.

Ao Ling remained silent, her fingers tightening around the hilt of her sword.

"I saw it in your eyes," Yue Rin pressed. "You're not completely theirs yet."

A muscle in Ao Ling's jaw twitched. "You don't understand what's at stake."

"Then tell me." Yue Rin stepped forward, ignoring the burning pain in her muscles. "Tell me why my own sister stands against me."

Ao Ling's eyes darkened. "Because if I don't, they'll kill you."

The words hit harder than any blade.

A gust of wind swept through the ruins, rustling the torn banners of the forgotten temple. The moonlight cast sharp shadows across Ao Ling's face, highlighting the conflict hidden beneath her hardened exterior.

"They told me you would destroy everything," Ao Ling continued. "That if I didn't stop you, the empire would burn."

Yue Rin let out a bitter laugh. "And you believed them?"

"I didn't have a choice!" Ao Ling's voice cracked, raw with emotion. "They took me, Yue Rin. They trained me, broke me, rebuilt me. I thought I was dead. I should have been dead. But they gave me a reason to survive."

A heavy silence settled between them.

Yue Rin's grip on her sword tightened. "So you let them turn you into a weapon?"

Ao Ling exhaled sharply. "And what about you? What have you become, Yue Rin? A rebel? An outcast? What is your purpose?"

"My purpose?" Yue Rin's lips curled into a smirk, but there was no humor in it. "To burn the chains of this empire. To free those who suffer beneath its rule."

Ao Ling let out a slow breath. "Then we are truly enemies now."

Yue Rin's chest tightened.

No.

Not yet.

Before she could speak, the sound of distant footsteps reached them. More were coming. The empire's assassins would not stop until they had buried every last witness.

"We don't have time for this," Yue Rin said. "If we stay, we die."

Ao Ling hesitated.

"You know I'm right," Yue Rin pushed.

A flicker of uncertainty crossed her sister's face before she finally nodded. "There's a passage beneath the ruins. It leads outside the city walls."

Yue Rin frowned. "And you expect me to just trust you?"

Ao Ling met her gaze, something unreadable in her eyes. "No. But right now, we both want to live."

It wasn't enough. But it was all they had.

Without another word, they moved.

The night stretched before them, filled with whispers of fate and the echoes of a battle yet to come.