Alania Solis wanted the noble's contract more than she wanted breakfast. It was the kind of job that made a name. Take it clean, and the forest guild would finally call her their best blade. She had trained years for this, and she was close. She also needed the coin, but that mattered less than the truth she chased. Every hard job brought her nearer to the people who'd hidden her past. So when she climbed the guild manor stairs at dawn and found the contract board empty, her stomach dropped. The slot for the noble's job was bare. Someone had already claimed it. She scanned the sign-out ledger and found a name she knew too well. "Looking for this?" Colyn Byrne leaned against the dark wood railing, the contract scroll spinning between two fingers. He was the guild's other rising blade, a year older, twice as smug. They'd trained together, competed for every job, hated and needed each other in equal measure. He tucked the scroll into his belt. "I signed at midnight. You slept in." "You knew I wanted it," Alania said. "That's why I took it." He grinned and pushed off the railing. "The target rides out this morning. First blade to reach him keeps the job. Guild rules." He was already moving for the door. Alania didn't argue. She ran. She knew the target's route. Colyn would take the road, riding hard and loud. She took the tree line instead. She cut through the forest, boots silent on moss, silver streak of hair pressed flat by the wind. The target traveled with two guards on horseback. She reached the narrow bend before either rider and climbed high into a broad oak, where the branches hung over the path. Hooves drummed closer. The noble came first on a black stallion with silver eyes, guards flanking him. Alania waited until the horse passed beneath her. Then she dropped. She landed behind the noble on the stallion's back, blade already at his throat. The guards wheeled around, swords half-drawn. "Call them off," she said quietly. "I'm your escort now. Guild business." The noble raised a shaking hand. His guards froze. Alania turned the stallion off the road, into the trees, and left the path empty. Colyn arrived minutes later. He reined his mount hard at the bend and found nothing but hoofprints leading into the forest. He'd lost. By noon, Alania delivered the noble safe to his estate and returned to the guild manor with the completed contract in hand. The masters logged her name. Whispers followed her down the hall. She had the win she wanted. But when she unrolled the noble's payment ledger, a folded note slipped out. It bore no guild seal. Three words, in a hand she didn't recognize: "We found you." Alania read it twice. Her past had just found her first.