My heart was tight beneath my ribs, my stomach tiny and stressed, but my muscles worked just fine as I dashed through the gorge. I started going over all the events that had occurred since we’d first set foot on Neraka, and the little inconsistencies I’d noticed before started to find their places in the much clearer picture of Azure Heights I now had.
This was a nasty place, inhabited by horrible creatures who had not only failed to better their ways, but had in fact gone from bad to worse. Like a plague, they’d decimated the native population of Imen, feeding off their blood and their souls.
I knew our only hope of defeating both the Maras and the daemons rested in our ability to find the swamp witch. As Fiona and I briefly glanced at each other, I knew we were on the same page. One way or another, we were going to be the end of the Exiled Maras.
Looking at it from an objective, exploratory perspective, the daemons were natives. We had no right to wipe them off the face of Neraka altogether, but we could force them into submission so they’d back off the Imen. But the Maras were foreign agents, already an anomaly in the Nerakian environment.
The damage they were doing was almost irreversible. They didn’t deserve a second chance. They’ve already wasted their second chance...
Harper
(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)
Jax and Hansa were talking to Vesta on the other side of the campfire, while Amund, Eristhena, and Ledda retreated to the main tent to further discuss the recent developments, along with my request to release Caspian.
I stayed by his cage, both of us sitting back to back, leaning against the iron bars. The Imen guards kept a distance of ten feet on each side, somewhat comfortable that I was there to keep an eye on him. Their fear of him at this point felt unjustified, but I hadn’t spent the last few thousands of years fighting against his species. I did understand their wariness. It ran deep and across multiple generations.
“I am sorry, Miss Hellswan,” Caspian murmured after a long silence. “I can’t say it enough.”
“Had you not been under the blood oath, would you have told us?” I asked, my gaze wandering across the camp. Females herded their children to a large dinner table, while the males added more wood to the fire and helped serve the food. They seemed to have a good balance as a tribe, their bonds tight and powerful—I could tell from the looks they gave each other, flickers of unconditional love and affection lighting their faces up.
“From the moment you’d set foot on Neraka,” Caspian replied. The rawness in his husky voice made my skin tingle. I knew he meant it.
“Then there’s nothing to apologize for.” I sighed. “It’s not your fault. You were born in a society of degenerates, and you tried your best to make things right.”
“The Kifo line has always been… complicated,” he said. “Those who wanted to do good… they paid the price.”
I heard him groan, then quickly turned around to see smoke rising from his face. He was trying to tell me part of the truth, doing his best to find some kind of loophole in the blood oath. “Lord Kifo, please,” I breathed. “You’ll hurt yourself. Stop it.”
“I just want to tell you the truth,” he murmured, turning so he could face me. The red blotches on his cheeks were already healing, and the earlier burns were long gone. Had he not stopped when he did, he would’ve turned to ashes. The pain in his jade eyes clawed at my heart, but there wasn’t much I could do for him at this point.
“You will, someday.” I gave him a soft smile. “Once we get the swamp witch back, she’ll be able to break the oath. I hope. I don’t know… This is dark stuff they’ve put on you. The books we have from the swamp witches have yet to be fully translated. Maybe in a couple of months, but we don’t have that kind of time. And it’s absolutely futile if we’re stuck here, with no access to Calliope, which is where we keep the books, in the first place.”
“I trust you’ll succeed.” He nodded. “I’ve never met anyone as determined as yourself, Miss Hellswan.”
He warmed me up on the inside with just a handful of words. How could I deny what I was feeling for him, when his effect on me was so obvious? I’d stopped trying to fool myself, anyway. From the moment I’d learned about his full knowledge of the Maras’ plans, I’d experienced the pain of heartbreak, subsequently followed by the relief at learning about his blood oath—it didn’t make things easier for our mission, but at least it cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Whatever he had or hadn’t done, it was all because of the oath, and his desire to survive. There had to be a way out for him, somehow. He’d already betrayed his people for me, for us, and, most importantly, for freedom and peace. My heart grew a couple of sizes whenever I looked at him.
An idea crossed through my head as we gazed at each other, the cold iron bars between us.
“What if… What if I ask you questions, and you blink. Once for yes, twice for no. Want to try it?” I asked.
He gave me a weak smile, then exhaled sharply and moved closer, so only a few inches were left between us. My pulse went on its usual rampage caused by the close proximity, but I held on for dear life, trying to keep my cool in front of him.
“Worth a shot, I think,” he replied softly.
“Okay, here goes… Let’s start with a simple question. Was your ancestor, Teller Kifo, a part of the effort to enslave the Imen and drink their blood?”
He blinked twice. A couple of seconds went by as we waited for his skin to sizzle, but nothing happened. Suddenly, hope started blossoming in my chest. I took a deep breath and smiled.
“No. Okay. I’ll go ahead and guess that Teller Kifo was one of the Exiled Maras who truly repented and wanted his people to start a new, better life on Neraka,” I replied. “Your parents, were they on board with what the Lords were doing? The soul-eating? The exsanguination?”
He blinked twice again, his gaze dropping to the ground as an aura of dark, deep red enveloped him. I had a feeling I’d finally identified some of his emotions. What I was seeing in this moment had to be grief… longing for his mother and father.
“And your adoptive father, Dillon? Was he a soul-eater?”
Caspian blinked twice once more, prompting me to nod slowly.
“Did the Lords kill your parents and Dillon, then? Because they didn’t want to comply, maybe?”
One blink, and my heart felt like an open wound. Oh, the poor thing…
“You mean to tell me that they killed your parents, then your adoptive father, but they’ve not scared you into willfully joining their agenda?”
He blinked once.
“They don’t deserve you,” I replied. “Caspian, I understand why you did what you did. Taking a blood oath and keeping quiet was better than losing your life over their greed and hubris.”
“Thank you,” he murmured, his eyes drilling into me, a vague smile stretching his lips.
“As inconvenient as it may be, I’m glad you took the blood oath,” I said, not sure whether I had the courage to finish that statement. After everything we’d been through, it would’ve been a shame not to be honest about what I was feeling. “Otherwise we never would’ve met.”
“When you put it like that, I can’t help but agree, Miss Hellswan.” His gaze softened.
I watched as little tendrils of gold emerged from him. They spread around in a diffused shimmer, covering the grief he’d exhibited until now. I couldn’t help but wonder what that feeling was—it only appeared when he looked at me.
Caspian couldn’t tell me the truth about his people because of a blood oath. The least I could do was tell him my truth, because I could. It took me another minute to summon the courage to speak up, but when I did, it was impossible to stop myself.
“Caspian, I need to tell you something.”
“I’m listening,” he replied, his voice low. He refused to take his eyes off me.
“Remember when you gave me your blood to heal my wounds, back in the gorges?”
“How could I possibly forget?”
&
nbsp; “Oh, right, the accidental Pyrope,” I murmured. “Right. Well, it did something to me. You know that, as a sentry, I am able to read emotions, among other things. I never could do that with a Mara, though. However, after I drank your blood… well, I started seeing colors emanating from your body. I can literally see your emotions. I don’t know what they all mean yet. My parents tell me everyone experiences things differently, especially across species. So I don’t yet know how to identify what you feel in various moments, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.”
He stilled, his expression unchanged. He listened quietly as I went on, slowly cocking his head to the side, and I felt my blood simmer under his gaze. This intensity between us was bound to eventually burn me alive, figuratively speaking. My only hope was that I wouldn’t end up with a tattered heart. I’d gotten a taste earlier with all the revelations, and it had hurt like hell. I was in no way ready for more of that.
“What have you gotten the hang of, exactly?” he asked.
“The dark red you had earlier, for example, when I mentioned your parents and Dillon. I think it’s grief. Longing, maybe,” I muttered, my attention faltering, as the gold around him seemed brighter than before. The more I looked at it, the more intense it became, to the point where I shifted my focus back to his hypnotizing jade eyes just so I wouldn’t have to narrow mine.
“I think you got that right,” he replied, inching closer. My lungs faltered, and I held my breath.
“And now there’s a golden aura of sorts,” I continued, my voice barely audible. “You only have that when you look at me, though. I don’t know what it is… or why. Just thought you should know.”
He blinked slowly, while I bit my lower lip, afraid to say anything else. He’d yet to tell me how he felt about my ability to read him. My biggest fear was that he’d consider it a gross invasion of his privacy, and that would be a massive bummer, since I had no way of turning this off.
“I think I know what it is,” he whispered.
“I… I mean, I don’t want you to think I’m going to use this knowledge against you,” I stuttered, unable to recognize myself for a split second. “I can’t turn it off. And I’m… I’m still learning to interpret the colors. I really don’t know what the gold stands for.”
“I’ll show you,” he breathed. His gaze darkened and burned green at the same time. My body bucked as he reached out—his hand gripping the back of my neck—pulled me close, and kissed me.
The iron bars were far enough apart for our heads to fit, but I lost all sense of anything material as his mouth covered mine. My lips parted in response, and I welcomed him with a soft moan as he deepened the kiss and my mind scattered across the universe.
Heat expanded through me, as if I were a newborn star. The golden shimmer I’d seen around me covered my field of vision as I closed my eyes and surrendered to Caspian. His tongue slipped through, touching mine as our lips fused.
The world around us disappeared, and I understood what he’d meant. That gold—it was the same that Serena had described surrounding Draven. Their closeness, the affection, the attraction, the unstoppable magnetism… It was all there, but between Caspian and me. I wasn’t the only one falling. He was experiencing the same internal storms—I could almost feel them, echoing beneath my ribcage.
I couldn’t get enough of him, and it seemed he felt the same, as he intensified our kiss. My arms slipped into the cage, snaking around his neck, and I pulled myself closer to him.
It was slightly uncomfortable, but neither of us seemed to mind. We abandoned everything and held each other against the iron bars. We kissed as if the world were about to end and start anew at the same time.
I understood then how badly I’d wanted this to happen.
Harper
(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)
I rested my head against his as we held each other close—or, at least, as close as we could, given the iron cage between us. Caspian’s eyes were filled with the same kind of warmth that seemed to emanate from within me.
My breath was ragged, and my heart was still in the middle of extraordinarily agile somersaults. His gaze found my lips again, and clouds gathered beneath his long black eyelashes.
“Miss Hellswan, I’m afraid I’m in very deep trouble,” he murmured, then ran his fingers through my hair, before returning to trace the contours of my face. His touch alone had the power to dismantle me completely, breaking me down to a subatomic level.
“Harper, please,” I whispered. “I think we’re past the stage of addressing each other by our last names.”
“Harper.” He smiled gently, turning me into a melting blob of wax.
I brought my hand up, my index and middle finger brushing against his chin, as I relished the feel of him somewhere deep in my bones. “Caspian,” I breathed. “What are we going to do with… with this?”
He let out a long, tortured sigh, his thumb passing over my lower lip.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’ve been finding myself inexplicably drawn to you, Harper, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“We’ll get through this,” I replied, my resolve bubbling back to the surface. “I’ll find the swamp witch and set you free. We’ll reach out to my people, and…”
My voice trailed off as I realized what I was about to say. Caspian gave me a weak, sad smile as he finished my sentence. “And you’ll obliterate the Exiled Maras. Perfectly understandable.”
“They’re your people. I’m sorry. But it has to be done.”
“I completely agree. I just want you to know that they’re not all like that. There are some, still in Azure Heights, who’ve been forced under a blood oath,” he replied, grimacing from the pain as red burns emerged on his forehead.
I cupped his face with my hands, pressing my lips tight together. “Stop it, Caspian. I can’t bear to see you in pain. Just don’t.”
“Look at you, so soft and… sweet.” He smirked, then kissed the tip of my nose, his hot breath tickling my face. “I never could’ve guessed, with all your layers of badassery.”
I chuckled lightly, noticing the shift between us. The tension between us was still very much there, just as intense, if not more so. But we had a name for it. We knew what we were dealing with. With one kiss, we’d managed to identify the invisible strings connecting our very souls. We’d yet to say the name out loud, but I knew we would, soon enough.
“Harper!”
Avril’s voice startled me. I instantly shot to my feet, my heart drumming as I saw Avril and the rest of my team, back in one piece. Blaze was barely standing, leaning against Caia with one arm around her shoulder. He seemed quite out of it, but alive.
I dashed over to them, just as Jax and Hansa joined in. We hugged one another for what seemed like an eternity, a wave of relief washing over me as I held them, alive and well, in my arms.
“Thank the Daughters!” Hansa exclaimed as she took Fiona in her arms.
“It’s so good to see you all,” I croaked, tears coming up to my eyes. After everything we’d been through, it was truly blissful to see us all back together. Avril hugged me again, kissing my forehead like the sweet, older sort-of-sister that she was.
“What happened to him?” Jax nodded at Blaze, who was looking around, visibly dazed and confused, as if waking up from a dream.
“Rewa mind-bent him,” Caia explained briefly. “He started choking me, so…”
“We had to neutralize him, so to speak.” Patrik shrugged, then patted the dragon on the shoulder. “He’ll be okay, though. Some food and some sleep, and he’ll be good as new in the morning.”
“What happened?” I asked, as Vesta motioned for her two Imen boys to fetch some water and blood. Hansa and Jax had taken care of dinner for us vampires, after the Imen had been kind enough to give us two large animals. Hansa had filled a couple of jugs, enough to go around.
“We told the Lords about Darius and the king, but we never mentioned Shaytan by his name,” Caia said. br />
“Until Emilian did.” Patrik smirked. “It all unraveled then. Avril and Heron caught Mara nurses feeding on Imen. We were surrounded by Correction Officers. We had to get out, of course.”
“Zane helped us,” Fiona added. “And Arrah, too. I think we’ll see her on this side of the gorges soon enough.”
“And Cadmus,” Avril said. “That was unexpected, but more than welcome. It took us a while to get out of there with Blaze out cold, but we did it. We found Dion and Alles at the tunnel entrance, and, well, here we are.”
“Together again.” I grinned, then briefly glanced over my shoulder at Caspian. He stood quietly in his cage, smiling at me. He seemed just as relieved as I was, and for good reason, too. Our team was whole again.
We sat closer to the campfire as Dion and Alles brought over pitchers of water and blood. Vesta took a seat next to Hansa, and we brought Avril and the others up to speed on everything we’d discovered, without skimping on the details.
They completed our accounts with what they’d seen and heard in Azure City, and we all came to the same conclusion. The decision was unanimous.
“We need to find the swamp witch.” Patrik nodded slowly, his knee gently brushing against Scarlett, whose cheeks had blossomed in an adorable shade of pink. I looked around and realized that a lot had changed between the members of our team, during the time I’d been away and stuck in the daemon city.
The dynamic was shifting, not just between Caspian and me or Hansa and Jax. Patrik and Scarlett seemed different, and even Blaze and Caia exchanged some peculiar glances. It kind of made sense—not just because of the natural chemistry, but because of all our trials and tribulations. The mess we’d found ourselves thrown into had inadvertently brought us closer together.
And I was counting on this internal change for what lay ahead.
“Caia, I’m so sorry,” Blaze finally spoke, his gaze a bit more focused.