The horse skidded to a halt ten feet away, hooves kicking up dust and gravel. My hand twitched toward my belt where Void Slice waited, but I forced myself to stay still. Stay calm.

  The rider dismounted in one fluid motion, boots hitting the ground with a soft thump. She was younger than I'd expected, maybe eighteen, nineteen at most. Dark hair pulled back in a tight braid. Eyes the same gray as my own. The pendant around her neck caught the fading sunlight, and my breath caught.

  The spade symbol. House Veil.

  "You're hurt," she said. Her voice was flat, controlled. "I can smell the blood."

  "Who are you?" Lena stepped forward, one hand drifting toward her own weapon. "How do you know that symbol?"

  The girl ignored Lena entirely. Her gaze remained locked on me.

  "I am Vera Rene," she said. "Daughter of Marcus Rene. Which makes me your sister."

  My stomach twisted. I'd never had a sister. Never had any family except my mother, who disappeared when I was seven, and my father, who died two years later. The pendant was all I had left of them.

  "That's a lie." My voice came out rougher than I intended. "My parents only had one child. Me."

  "Before you, there was me." Vera's expression didn't flicker. "I was born first. When Mother discovered what the family truly was, what they carried, she sent me away. To the capital. To be hidden."

  Lena's hand dropped from her weapon. "The Veil..."

  "You know of them," Vera said, finally glancing at Lena. "Good. Then you understand why I'm here."

  "I don't understand anything." I took a step forward, and pain lanced through my broken ribs. I didn't show it. "You show up wearing House Veil's symbol, claim to be my sister, and expect me to just accept that?"

  "No." Vera reached into her coat and withdrew a folded piece of paper. "I expect you to read this."

  She tossed it. I caught it with reflexes honed by three years of survival, and felt the familiar texture of the paper, the same paper my mother used for her letters.

  I opened it.

  My dearest Dere,

  If you're reading this, then Vera has found you, and the time for secrets has passed. You were too young when I left. Too vulnerable. The Veil would have used you, turned you into a weapon before you could ever choose your own path.

  Your sister was born with the mark. Two cards at birth, one spade, one club. The Veil recognized her immediately as a vessel for their lineage. I couldn't let them take her too.

  What's done is done. What's inherited cannot be unmade.

  The pendant I gave you contains more than memories. It contains a key. When you're ready, it will open doors you cannot imagine. Trust no one with its existence. Not Lena. Not anyone.

  I love you both. I always will.

  Mother

  My hands trembled. I read it again. Then a third time.

  "This is forged," I said, but the words felt hollow even as I spoke them. "She'd have told me,"

  "She told no one." Vera's composure cracked slightly. "That was her choice. Her protection. She wanted you to live a normal life, away from the families, away from the politics. But the Classless card changed everything."

  "How do you know about that?"

  "Because the Veil has been hunting it for generations." Vera's jaw tightened. "And now that you have it, they're not going to stop. The man you faced in the dungeon, his name was Garrett Voss. Three generations of his family served the Veil, searching for Classless. He was their best hunter."

  "He nearly killed me."

  "Yes." Something flickered in Vera's eyes. Respect, maybe. "But he didn't. And now the Veil knows the Classless card has resurfaced. They'll send more."

  Lena stepped forward. "The Iron Wolves,"

  "Minor concern." Vera waved a hand. "Six Noob-tier mercenaries are nothing compared to what comes next. The Veil has Skilled-tier enforcers. Professional-tier hunters. And at the top of their hierarchy..." She paused. "Veterans. Players who have transcended the normal limits."

  My blood ran cold. Professional was already beyond anything Grimvale had ever seen. Veteran was a myth, a level most people in Qora only heard about in stories.

  "That's impossible," Lena whispered. "There hasn't been a Veteran-tier player in the eastern provinces for,"

  "Thirty years. Since the Veil's last Ace retired."

  The pendant at my chest grew warm, and I remembered what Lena had said, about hidden messages, about secrets my mother kept.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "What's in the pendant?" I asked. "Really?"

  Vera's gaze dropped to the silver disk. "That's not for me to tell. You'll know when you're ready. But I can tell you this much, the key it contains will change everything. It can open any lock, any gate, any vault. Including the Veil's most secure vaults."

  "And you want me to use it against them."

  "I want us to use it." Vera met my eyes. "Together. Mother trusted you with the pendant. She trusted me with the truth. We've been apart for too long, Dere. The Veil took everything from our family, from our mother. They turned our bloodline into their hunting dogs."

  "Not all of us." Lena's voice cut through the tension. "The Veil isn't the only family. And they don't control everyone."

  Vera's expression hardened. "I know about your connection to the Crimson. Mother told me before she disappeared. But the Crimson can't protect him from what's coming. They can barely protect themselves."

  "Lena." I looked back at her. "What's she talking about?"

  Lena was quiet for a long moment. Then she sighed.

  "The Crimson family sent me to find you. Your mother was one of us, a Crimson operative, assigned to monitor the Veil's activities in the eastern provinces. When she went dark, we assumed she'd been eliminated. But she was protecting you. Protecting both of you."

  "So you're here to recruit me?"

  "I'm here to keep you alive." Lena's eyes were steady. "The Crimson can offer you protection, resources, training. But you'd owe them. And they'd want the Classless card eventually."

  "Of course they would." I laughed, the sound hollow. "Everyone wants something."

  Vera stepped closer. "I don't want the card. I want our family back. I want to finish what Mother started, bringing down the Veil from the inside."

  "You want to infiltrate them?"

  "I already have." Vera pulled back her sleeve, revealing a tattoo, a spade with the number five. "I've been playing their game for three years. Working my way up their ranks. But I can't do this alone. I need someone the Veil doesn't know about. Someone they don't expect."

  "Me."

  "You have what they want. And more importantly, you have what they fear. Classless is the only card that can bypass their security systems, their lock wards, their entire infrastructure. With you, I can access the vault where they keep their oldest secrets. The ones that could destroy them."

  I looked at the letter again. At my mother's handwriting. At the words that felt like a punch to the gut.

  Trust no one with its existence.

  But this was my sister. My blood.

  "If this is a trap," I said slowly, "if you're lying to me,"

  "It's not." Vera's voice finally showed some emotion, desperation, maybe. "I know you have no reason to trust me. I know everything looks suspicious. But I also know that the man who killed Garrett was the same man who killed Father. His name was Corin Voss, Garrett's uncle. He served the Veil's Ace directly."

  The world tilted. I felt my legs wobble, and I put a hand against a tree to steady myself.

  "What?"

  "Garrett was hunting you because of orders from above. But the one who really killed Father, who made it look like a dungeon accident, that was Corin. He's the one who found Mother too, eventually. She barely escaped."

  "Why? What did they want?"

  "Our bloodline." Vera's voice dropped. "The Rene family isn't ordinary. We carry something special, something the Veil has been trying to cultivate for centuries. That's why they wanted Classless. That's why they want us."

  Lena cursed under her breath. "The bloodline theory. I always wondered..."

  "You knew?" I rounded on her.

  "I suspected. Your mother never confirmed it. But she was too skilled, too knowledgeable, to be just a Crimson operative. She was Veil-born, I think. Maybe even a direct descendant."

  Vera nodded. "The Renes were once a branch family of the Veil. Mother broke away generations ago, taking the bloodline secrets with her. They've been hunting us ever since."

  My head pounded. Too much information. Too many revelations. I needed time to process, to think, to.

  A branch snapped in the forest behind us.

  All of us spun around. Vera's hand went to her sword. Lena pulled out a small blade. I reached for Void Slice, my body moving on instinct despite the agony in my ribs.

  Two figures emerged from the trees. Men in dark leather, with the spade symbol emblazoned on their collars. Skilled-tier, that much was obvious from the way they moved, the confidence in their posture.

  "Vera Rene." The first man smiled. "The Ace will be pleased. We thought we'd lost you in the dungeon collapse."

  "Voss men." Vera's voice was ice. "I should have known."

  "Your sister has been looking for you." The second man ignored me entirely, his eyes fixed on Vera. "We thought perhaps you'd died. But here you are. With guests."

  "They're not coming with you." Vera drew her blade, a thin rapier that seemed to shimmer in the dim light.

  "Oh, we weren't planning to take them." The first Voss reached into his coat and withdrew a small card. "We're just here to deliver a message."

  He activated it.

  The card blazed with silver light, and suddenly I felt a pressure in my skull, an overwhelming force trying to push into my mind. I staggered, crying out, and I heard Lena gasp beside me.

  Mental attack. The realization came too late. My Multiskill couldn't block this. Nothing could block this.

  Vera screamed, and then she was moving, faster than I could track, her rapier flashing silver as she slashed at the first Voss. He barely dodged, blood spraying from his shoulder.

  "RUN!" she shouted. "Get to the Crimson safehouse! The one on Ashwood Street!"

  The second Voss raised his hand, and I felt another mental assault slamming into me. But this time I was ready, or at least, I thought I was.

  I activated Shadow Step.

  The world blurred, and I appeared ten feet to the side, just in time to see Vera drive her blade through the first Voss's chest. The second one screamed in rage and charged.

  I didn't hesitate. I pulled Void Slice from its sheath and met the charging enemy head-on.

  The Voss had a sword, a heavy blade meant for crushing blows. I was faster, lighter, guided by pure reflex and the desperate energy of survival. Our weapons clashed, sparks flying, and I felt the impact in my bones.

  This man was stronger. But I had something else.

  Void Slice.

  The blade sang through the air, and the Voss's eyes went wide as he looked down at his chest, where a dark line was spreading, like ink bleeding through water.

  "How..." He collapsed.

  I crouched over the fallen soldier for half a second, just long enough to strip the card from his coat pocket. An emblem I didn't recognize: a spade, edged in silver, unlike anything the Iron Wolves carried. I tucked it into my pendant's storage without stopping to read it. No time.

  I turned to find Vera standing over the first body, breathing hard. Her face was pale, but she was alive.

  "You need to go," she said. "Now. Before more come."

  "Come with us."

  "I can't." Vera pressed something into my hand, a small card. "That's a teleportation anchor. One use. Activate it only when you're in extreme danger. I'll find you when I can."

  "Vera,"

  "I mean it, Dere." Her eyes glistened in the moonlight. "I just found you. I'm not losing you again. But I have to finish this. For Mother. For Father."

  She kissed my forehead, turned, and disappeared into the forest.

  Lena grabbed my arm. "We need to move. Now."

  I nodded, pocketing the anchor, and we ran.

  Behind us, in the distance, I heard horses.

  The Veil had sent their hunters. And they weren't going to stop until they had what they wanted.

  Classless.

  Me.

  The night swallowed us whole.

  [SYSTEM]

  New Card Acquired: [Teleportation Anchor] (Rare T1)

  Single-use item

  Destination: Crimson Safehouse (Ashwood Street, Grimvale)

  New Card Stored: [Veil Assassin's Card] (Beyond Tier 0), origin unknown, pending identification