A Blade Between Brothers
Episode -------30
Rain had eased to a mournful drizzle, draping Kolkata's forgotten alleys in silver mist. Beneath an ancient stone archway, two shadows moved — one limping, blood soaking the cloth pressed to his side; the other, a woman whose eyes burned with stubborn hope.
Ayan tasted copper on his tongue with every breath. Pain gnawed at his ribs, but fear for Lina cut deeper. We're close, he told himself, though every step felt borrowed from death itself.
"Are you sure about this?" Lina whispered, voice raw from exhaustion.
"No," Ayan rasped. "But if we don't warn him first, worse men will."
"And if Raian kills you before you speak?" she asked, eyes shimmering in the gloom.
Ayan's gaze darkened. "Then at least he'll know I tried."
---
Inside Raian's hidden arsenal, steel glinted under low lamps; crates stamped with foreign seals lined the walls like silent judges. The air smelled of oil, rust, and unspoken history.
Raian stood near a rusted table, every movement laced with pain he refused to show. His storm-grey gaze never left Aria, who hovered at the edge of lamplight, hands balled into fists.
"You're trembling," he observed, voice softer than she expected.
"I'm terrified," she whispered, meeting his gaze despite the fear clawing at her chest.
"And still here," he murmured. "That's what frightens me most."
---
Before either could speak again, a door clanged open at the far end. Steel echoed against stone, boots scuffed wet marble.
Raian's men raised weapons — but lowered them almost instantly.
Ayan stepped forward, leaning on the cracked stone archway for support, blood staining his shirt dark as night. Lina hovered close, her hand pressed lightly to his back.
Raian's eyes turned colder than steel. "You've got nerve, showing your face here."
"And you've got enemies," Ayan shot back, voice raw. "I'm not one of them tonight."
---
For a breath, silence coiled tight around them — a silence broken only by rain dripping through broken beams overhead.
Raian's gaze shifted to Lina, noticing the bruises, the blood crusted at her temple. Then back to Ayan, eyes narrowing. "What do you want?"
"To speak before your pride kills us all," Ayan rasped.
Aria stepped closer, heartbeat roaring in her ears. "Raian—" she began.
He raised a hand, cutting her off, but his gaze softened — just enough to let her stay.
"Speak," he told Ayan, voice low, coiled with threat.
---
Ayan's breath shuddered out, every word costing pain. "Revan wasn't acting alone."
Raian's jaw clenched. "He's dead. His betrayal ended in blood."
"You think so?" Ayan rasped. "Revan was just the blade. Someone else held the hilt. And they're coming."
Raian's expression didn't change, but something colder settled in his gaze — the calculation of a man born in shadows.
"Who?" he demanded.
"I don't know yet," Ayan confessed, guilt twisting his face. "But they want your empire. And her—" His gaze flickered to Aria. "As leverage."
---
Aria's breath caught; her chest tightened as if invisible chains had drawn tighter.
Raian's fists clenched so hard his knuckles paled. "If you're lying, I'll bury you beside Revan."
"I know," Ayan rasped. "But if you're wrong, you'll bury her too."
---
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then Lina stepped forward, voice shaking but resolute. "We didn't come to beg. We came to warn you. Do what you want with us after."
Raian's storm-grey gaze locked onto hers — and for the first time, Aria glimpsed the fracture: the guilt behind his coldness, the fear buried beneath command.
---
He turned to Aria, voice low. "Do you trust him?"
She swallowed, breath trembling. "I don't know," she whispered. "But I know what fear looks like. And I see it in his eyes."
Raian's gaze flickered — something softer, darker — before he turned back to Ayan.
---
"Why now?" Raian demanded. "You could have fled."
Ayan's shoulders sagged. "Because running means Lina dies beside me. And I'm done watching people I love bleed for my mistakes."
Lina's hand found his, bruised fingers intertwining.
Aria felt the raw truth of it echo in her chest — how love could make a coward brave, or a killer hesitate.
---
Raian stepped closer, boots scraping stone, until he stood an arm's length from Ayan.
"You betrayed me once," Raian rasped, pain edging every syllable.
"And still came back," Ayan whispered. "Because some debts weigh heavier than blood."
Raian's gaze turned sharp. "Then prove it."
---
Ayan's breath caught. "How?"
"Tell me everything," Raian ordered, voice low, dangerous. "Names. Routes. Who else knew Revan's moves."
Ayan hesitated, guilt flickering in his eyes.
"And if I do," he rasped, "what about her?" His gaze slid to Lina.
Raian's eyes softened by a shade. "She walks out alive. That's my word."
---
For a heartbeat, Ayan seemed to crumple inside — the relief, the cost, the guilt.
Then he nodded. "Fine," he murmured. "But it won't stop what's coming. You need to be ready."
"I always am," Raian murmured, though the flicker of pain behind his eyes betrayed him.
Aria stepped closer, voice trembling. "And what about me?"
Raian's gaze turned to her — soft, raw, breaking through the mask. "You stay," he whispered, so low only she could hear. "Because if you go, they'll use you to destroy me."
"And if staying destroys me instead?" she asked, tears burning behind her lashes.
"Then you'll hate me," he rasped, voice cracking, "but you'll live."
---
Beyond broken walls, thunder rolled — not from the sky, but from engines drawing near.
"Too late," Ayan rasped. "They're here."
Raian's men raised weapons; tension knotted the air.
"Get her out," Raian ordered, nodding to Aria.
"No," she protested, heart lurching. "Not without you."
"Then stay close," he whispered, haunted. "And remember who I am — not just what I've done."
Aria's breath caught. "And if I see the killer?"
"Then look deeper," he murmured. "See the man you saved."
A distant door clanged open; shadows moved in the rain-wet gloom.
Raian drew his pistol, pain twisting his face but resolve sharpening his gaze. "Whatever happens," he rasped, "this ends tonight."
Beside him, Aria felt fear coil around her heart — but beneath it, something fiercer: the will to stay.
---
Across the cracked floor, Ayan lifted his sword, blood dripping, breath ragged.
Lina moved beside him, iron rod gripped tight. "Together," she whispered.
"Always," he rasped, though darkness clouded his vision.
And in that ruined hall, healer and killer, traitor and survivor, hope and blood stood side by side — bound by choices past and scars yet to come.
---
Teaser for Episode 31:
A night of betrayal and blood: new enemies strike, old wounds reopen — and Aria must choose: run from the darkness, or stand beside it.