It felt better to voice that thought. Some of the pressure in my chest went away. And Caspian seemed surprised by my sudden burst of honesty, but he quickly resumed his usual coolness.
“I am sorry, Miss Hellswan, that I am causing you such distress,” he replied, his tone even. “But you can’t possibly comprehend what I am being subjected to, on a daily basis, as a Lord of my House and City, and as an Exiled Mara looking to protect the innocent. I’ve been working in the shadows for a long time, and I cannot risk exposure to anyone. Not even you. Not until I am fully confident that you will not turn against me if I give you the whole truth. As it stands right now, you might not be able to handle it.”
We gazed at each other for a while, keeping our words and doubts to ourselves. I memorized every word of his statement, with the intention to go over it later that night. There was a lot he was telling me already, without any specifics. He was giving me a glimpse of his troubles without naming them.
Most importantly, I could see that his mistrust was authentic. I wasn’t sure what else I could do to prove to him that he could trust me, but I decided to give up for the day. I had one question that I could ask, and I was determined to ask the right one.
“If you’ll excuse me, Lord Kifo,” I nodded briefly, “I need to head back to the inn.”
He blinked once, slowly, as a way of acknowledgment, and watched quietly as I turned and left him there. I felt his eyes on me, the skin on the back of my neck prickling. The hum in my body gradually subsided as I reached the stairs leading down into the city.
I have but one question…
What did I want to know? What was the most important thing I needed him to tell me?
Yeah, not getting much sleep tonight…
Caia
(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)
I spent well over half an hour soaking in the bathtub back at the Broken Bow Inn. I scrubbed the dirt and soot off with fragranced soap and hot water, allowing my muscles to relax and my skin to finally breathe. Even a fire fae needed to cool down after the inferno we unleashed in that gorge.
I had another suit left, leaving the other two to dry by the window of my bedroom. I slipped into it and geared up again—every day was intense, and I had to be ready for anything, twenty-four seven. I then went out, locking my room, and stopped in front of Blaze’s door.
Might as well grab him on my way back to the infirmary.
I knocked, suddenly feeling a little nervous. I brushed it off and took a deep breath. I had to keep a professional demeanor in front of him. But then the door opened, revealing Blaze with nothing but a towel around his waist. Water droplets trickled down his tanned skin, and the dim lights cast sculptural shadows against his muscular torso.
My chest tightened as my eyes found his. My professional demeanor was hanging by a thread. His dark hair was still wet and curly, covering his forehead. We stared at each other for a while—though our motives probably varied a little. He appeared just as surprised to see me, and I couldn’t look away because he was simply gorgeous.
I’m in so much trouble…
“Hey, Caia,” he murmured. “What’s up?”
“Um, well, I… I was just on my way down to the infirmary, figured you’d want to tag along,” I said, then cleared my throat and produced a flat smile. I couldn’t offer a full one—I wasn’t great with multitasking in his presence, and I needed some focus to stop my heart from galloping like an indigo horse.
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he held his soft gaze on me for about a minute, then nodded slowly. I pointed downstairs, over my shoulder, at the main entrance.
“I’ll… Um, I’ll wait for you outside,” I replied, then walked over to the stairs.
I heard the door to his room close, and I felt like I could breathe again. Just being around him was suddenly so intense!
I found an empty seat on the small terrace outside and laid back into it. Nocturnal flowers were blooming in nearby pots, while the first moon rose lazily over the city. Exiled Maras and Imen shuffled around, some on relaxed evening walks and others on their way home. The ocean breeze made the tree crowns shudder, their leaves rustling as the evening set in.
The whole day had been an amalgam of horrible and weird, on top of the previous night, which I’d already classified as “freaking crazy”. We’d learned a couple things about the daemons, sure. We’d found Sienna, too, though her circumstances were nothing like we’d expected. We’d even gotten Fiona back, which was, by far, the highlight of the day. But there were still so many unknowns left.
Why was Caspian helping us? What was up with all the secrecy surrounding him? How had Vesta made it to Neraka? What else were the daemons hiding underground? What were the Exiled Maras doing with their prison—was it really just a detention center suddenly breached by the horned fiends, or was there something darker, more evil at work here?
The Imen’s behavior was a little off, too. And the Lords weren’t exactly sharing everything with us. We’d found that out the hard way when we discovered the prison, just as daemons strolled in for a midnight snack.
That jail bugged the hell out of me.
We should infiltrate it. We should find Demios, Arrah’s brother. If we remove the leverage over her, she may be willing to talk and tell us more about the inner workings of the city.
Because the Exiled Maras didn’t know about Arrah’s ability to withstand their mind-bending tricks, she was at risk. Technically speaking, they didn’t need to imprison Demios to keep her quiet, since they probably thought they’d already mind-bent her into ignorance. Yes, speaking to Demios could definitely go at the top of our to-do list, along with sending one of us back to Calliope to get the rest of GASP involved.
I was so deep in thought, looking out into the distance at the dark plain and Valley of Screams, that I didn’t even notice Blaze standing next to me. I jumped, startled by his sudden presence. He seemed amused.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
“Nah, it’s fine. My mind was somewhere else,” I muttered, and got up.
We walked over to the main alley leading down to the infirmary. The silence between us was a tad uncomfortable—or at least, it was for me. I’d gotten a little too comfortable with his body so close to mine during our ride through the gorge, and my pulse seemed so quick to react whenever he came near me. The thought of talking to him about how I felt crossed my mind, but I feared this wasn’t the right time.
“You were amazing back there.” I decided to speak. There was no point in making things awkward just because I had trouble understanding the depth of my feelings toward him. “Seriously, great job.”
“Thanks.” He gave me a shy half-smile, scratching the back of his head. I had a feeling Blaze wasn’t great at taking compliments. It was cute. “Though I think I could’ve done better. I nearly burned Heron and Avril alive.”
“Not your fault.” I shook my head. “We knew we had to clear out, and we picked the wrong spot. It all ended well, so there’s no need for you to feel bad in any way.”
“Blaze!” Rewa’s voice stopped us in our tracks. I couldn’t help but sigh as we both turned around. Rewa nearly flew into his arms, hugging him tight and giggling with sheer delight. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay!”
Blaze gave me what looked like an apologetic sideways glance, pressing his lips in a thin line as he gently pushed Rewa back, resting his hands on her shoulders. She was taller than me by at least a head, and yet Blaze still towered over her.
“It’s good to see you too, Rewa,” he said, his tone even and polite.
“You must join me for dinner tomorrow night!” Rewa beamed at him. “I’ve arranged for a wonderful feast for two, worthy of a champion of Azure Heights!”
Blaze blinked a few times, not sure what to say. I stepped over my own heart and gave him a friendly nudge and a discreet nod. Rewa had a thing for him, and we needed to keep him in her good graces if we wanted any inside information from the Five Lords
. As much as I disliked the idea of Blaze going out with another girl, I had to support him and my team before anything else. My personal feelings were irrelevant.
“Okay, thank you,” he replied with a faint smile.
“Great! I shall see you tomorrow at seven, then, at the Blue Butterfly.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him, and I suddenly fought back a bout of queasiness. “It’s on the eighth level. You can’t miss it. It’s only the most beautiful venue in this city.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Rewa.” Blaze gave her a curt nod, then pointed at the top level. “Now please go home. It’s nighttime, and we can’t have you out on your own again. Not after what happened last night.”
“Oh, you do care about me!” She giggled, clutching his forearm.
“Well, I care about not having your father’s wrath rain down upon us if something were to happen to you.” Blaze sighed.
“Okay, okay, I’ll go home, then!” Rewa winked, then waved us both goodbye. “See you tomorrow, Blaze!”
We both watched quietly as she rushed up to the top level, her black dress shuffling over the cobblestones. I resumed my walk, unable to wipe the frown off my face. I thoroughly disliked this situation, biting my lower lip as I looked ahead, analyzing every shadow and every object on our path.
“I’m not happy about this either,” Blaze said, his voice low.
I briefly glanced at him, then shrugged in my desperate attempt to seem cool with everything. I hadn’t meant for him to notice my displeasure.
“I’m really not interested in her,” he added.
“I know. It’s cool,” I croaked, not sounding as sure as I’d intended. “You’re free to like whomever you want to like, anyway. You’re a free agent. Just take care of yourself in the process. We obviously can’t trust the Exiled Maras as much as we’d like.”
He caught my arm, making me stop.
I looked up at him and felt my heart skip a beat. His dark blue gaze was so intense, I ended up holding my breath for several seconds. His grip on me was firm, yet soft at the same time.
“You should really stop thinking about Rewa and me,” he said. “It’s not going to happen. My heart will never be there.”
He looked as though he wanted to say something else, as his lips parted. But his silence seemed to say something, too, and I melted like a candle in his hold. We stood like that for maybe a minute—a long and intriguing minute that I couldn’t get enough of as our eyes stayed locked on each other.
I gave him a weak smile, then resumed our walk down to the infirmary.
It was getting harder to control my reactions when he was around. I didn’t respond well to pressure, and being near him seemed to really test my ability to stay calm and composed. All I could think of was his handsome face, and the way his hair curled around his temples. I stole a glance at him as we reached the infirmary level.
Blaze was every girl’s dream. Strong and noble, devastatingly handsome, and a friggin’ dragon. No wonder they all swooned over him. But what about me? Was I swooning, too?
Nah, I’m… I’m pretty much melting.
Avril
(Daughter of Lucas & Marion)
We all gathered back at the infirmary at around eight. Our battle wounds had healed, and we’d settled the score with hunger, too, as the Broken Bow Inn provided blood and food for its guests. Patrik made it back first, giving Jax time to run to the inn and back, as well. The Druid had also prepared satchels to expand the city’s protection spell to its underground level, and had laid out ingredients for the interplanetary spell on the map table.
Heron and Jax were the last to join us. I noticed the glances that Jax exchanged with Hansa. I had a feeling that the succubus had really laid into him earlier, judging by the puppy-dog look on his face. He looked as though he’d just been caught stealing a slice of pizza from the dinner table. My stifled grin subsided as soon as my eyes found Heron’s.
He was particularly quiet, serious, and constantly staring at me. I realized then that I was looking at him differently. Sure, he was the same jokester and philanderer we all knew and… accepted, but he felt like so much more to me all of a sudden. My attraction toward him had been undeniable, but I’d pushed it back since Jovi and Anjani’s wedding because I knew that getting together with Heron was a surefire way to have my heart broken.
And yet, there was a string tugging at my heart as I temporarily lost myself in his jade eyes. What I was feeling after all the events in the Valley of Screams was much deeper. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Heron hadn’t changed. He had still been cracking his dirty jokes earlier, on our way back to the inn.
“Okay, now that we’re all here,” Hansa said, breaking my train of thought and prompting me to look away from Heron, “we need to split into teams again, to cover more ground. We still have a lot to do. First off, the city protection spell. Patrik has already set everything up; we just need to go down into the prison and bury the satchels in the north, south, east, and west walls. Fortunately, that can be done by a single team, as the bottom level is the one where Caia, Blaze, and Fiona were last night. I think Caia and Blaze can undertake this mission again.”
Caia nodded, her hands behind her back, then gave Blaze a quick glance.
“I’d also like to request permission for us to try to find Demios in that prison,” Caia replied. “I strongly believe that Arrah’s brother may help us convince her to help us. She knows more about the Exiled Maras than she’s letting on.”
“I can attest to that,” I chimed in. “I think that once Arrah sees we’re on her side, she’ll come around.”
Jax and Hansa looked at each other for a brief moment, then back at us.
“Well, then, let’s do this the smart way,” Jax said. “Fiona can use the invisibility spell, since we still have enough ingredients for at least five more short-term sessions, and look for Demios down there. You don’t want to arouse suspicion from the Correction Officers. They’ll all be busy keeping an eye on you during your protection spell preparation. Invisible Fiona can find Demios and sneak him out of there. Patrik can prepare enough of the spell for two.”
“That makes sense,” Fiona said, leaning against the window frame behind her, her gaze lingering on the daemon and Minah. “What about them?”
“We’ll bury Minah in the morning,” Hansa replied. “As for the daemon, I imagine Patrik wants to study him for a bit longer before we put him into the ground.”
“Yes, I most certainly do,” the Druid muttered. “He’s got more secrets in there, for sure.”
“Whatever we can find out about his species, we can use against them,” Hansa agreed, then shifted her focus back to our group. “Right. Now, before we move ahead with our investigation and assessment of what the daemons have beneath the surface of Neraka, we need more GASP power. Which one of you vampire ladies is willing to ride the light bubble back to Calliope tonight? Harper, Scarlett, Avril? We can’t let Blaze or Caia go. We need our Maras here with us. I can’t leave the team, and neither can the Druid. So that leaves us with you three.”
Scarlett, Harper, and I looked at each other for a while. I gave them a wink, then raised my hand.
“I’ll go,” I offered. I figured the several hours I’d spend in that light sphere, while moving across the universe, might help me put my thoughts about Heron in order. Maybe I could even talk about it with my mom while our troops gathered for Neraka. Surely she could offer some useful advice, or at least tell me to just get it out of my head because it only spelled trouble. I was already telling myself that, so maybe she could reinforce that thought.
“Fair enough,” Hansa replied, and Patrik gathered the interplanetary spell ingredients from the table, while Jax opened the infirmary door for him. “Let’s go.”
She walked out, along with Patrik and Jax, and I followed. I passed by Heron, and he caught my arm, a dark shadow settling on his face. His gaze softened on me.
“Be careful, Avril,” he murmured.
“I’m jus
t going home and back. It’s cool.” I gave him a weak smile, unable to keep my heart from recklessly pounding beneath my ribs. He frowned, then inched closer to me.
“Have a safe journey. We’ve only done this interplanetary spell once; pardon me if I’m not comfortable with watching you go on your own,” he replied, then let me go.
“No need to worry about me, Heron,” I breathed. “I’m a big girl.”
I went out, and the rest of the team joined us on the terrace. The Correction Officers stationed there moved back, giving Patrik the space he needed to prepare the spell. He drew the chalk symbol on the brown cobblestone, then placed the powders and herbs in their designated places.
“You’re good to go.” Patrik gave me a reassuring smile.
I nodded, then briefly hugged Scarlett, Harper, Fiona, Caia, and Hansa, and waved goodbye to the guys.
“We’ll see you soon, Avril,” Hansa said, one hand resting on her hip. “Just tell Derek and the rest of GASP everything we’ve learned so far, and they’ll make the right assessment as to how many agents to send over. Just make sure they bring in more dragons, too.”
I chuckled as I moved inside the chalk circle, facing my team.
“You really like the dragons, huh?” I winked.
“Who doesn’t like giant lizards that spit out fire and destruction?” Hansa shrugged, then offered a playful grin. Blaze was blushing, even his ears turning red.
“I’m right here,” he croaked, and we all burst into laughter.
“Yeah, I can see you,” Hansa replied, patting him on the back. “Just take the compliment!”
I took a few deep breaths as they all looked at me again. Patrik muttered the swamp witches’ interplanetary spell, and shortly after he finished, I was swallowed by white light in the form of a sphere. It hummed and buzzed for a minute before it allowed me to see outside.
They were squinting, the sphere shining brightly in front of the infirmary. It lifted me off the ground, making me wobble before I fell backward and was reduced to an accidental sitting position. I watched as my team got smaller, the interplanetary spell gaining altitude.