When Kaelen arrived, he wasn't a man he was just another variable.
An unwanted one.
She had spent months preparing.
Every step, every detour, every death was calculated down to the second. No gods. No emotion. No mercy.
The runes were hidden. The triggers were subtle. The casualties? Acceptable.
Then he walked into the village like some stray breeze. Not a commander, not a noble, not even a known face. Just a wandering swordsman with honest eyes and a hero's heart two things Maelra despised.
At first, she ignored him. Observed from a distance. His presence didn't immediately threaten the operation… but it irked her. The way he kept helping people without asking for anything. The way others started smiling more, talking more.
Variables didn't act like that.
He wasn't supposed to matter.
But then he started showing up in her blind spots, helping the old with their carts, entertaining the children with stories, even fixing the water supply without being asked. She told herself it was fine. The explosion would still happen. The runes would still burn. It didn't matter.
So why was she hesitating? Why was she trying to remember why she's doing all of this?
She found herself watching him. Not because he was dangerous but because he was too good. Too ideal. The kind of person the world crushed first.
And that terrified her more than any sword ever could.