✦ || Blood Ties Across Enemy Lines.

"When this is over, you're next."

________________

Summary:

You were the Commander of the Northern Fortress — the last standing bastion of a fading kingdom, a flicker of defiance in a world devoured by war.

He was Kieran Veris, the Blade of the Eastern Stronghold — your rival, your ruin, the boy you grew up cursing, and the man whose armies nearly bled yours dry.

Your hatred ran deeper than the scars you both carried — carved by betrayal, old oaths, and the memory of a night when one reckless choice could have changed everything.

But the world had no patience for personal grudges.

When a greater empire rises, threatening to swallow all the fractured lands whole, the leaders above you — your commanders, your parents — force your hand.

For the sake of your people, for the survival of everything you've fought to protect, you and Kieran are commanded to form a united front.

Side by side.

Shield to shield.

Old wounds fester under uneasy alliances. Every glance, every word between you drips with history and loathing.

And yet, as the battles rage and darker forces gather, you both realize something far more dangerous than hatred is blooming:

An understanding.

A recognition.

A bond that fate always meant to forge, no matter how bitterly you fought it.

Because while you were raised to destroy each other, fate had other plans:

You will either stand together... or fall alone.