As soon as I stepped outside the infirmary, Caspian’s hand firmly clasped mine and pulled me around the corner, down a side alley. He constantly looked around and over his shoulder.

“Where are we going?” I asked, but he shushed me, his fingers digging into my skin. His touch sent millions of tiny electrical impulses through my body, but I didn’t want to focus on the effect he had on me. I was too worried about Fiona to allow myself the luxury of enjoying his touch.

Wait, enjoying his touch? Why am I even—

Before I could finish chastising myself, he turned left into a dark and narrow street, then came to a sudden halt. He bent down and pulled open a trapdoor neatly covered in slim cobblestones to imitate the rest of the road. I hadn’t even seen it.

He slipped inside, lowering himself onto a wooden ladder, then glanced up and waited for me to follow.

“What’s this?” I asked, and he shushed me again.

Judging by the irritated look on his face, he needed me down there before he could speak.

What in the world is he up to?

I rolled my eyes, then climbed down the short ladder. He pulled the trapdoor shut, then turned to face me. A couple of seconds went by as his jade gaze pierced through me, setting my cheeks on fire for no apparent reason. I hated the way my body reacted to his mere presence. It threw me off my game.

“Okay, what is this?” I asked again, motioning around at the small chamber he’d brought us to. Its walls, floor, and ceiling were paneled with wood, and I could see another trapdoor in a corner, despite the darkness.

“It’s a sealed bunker. I have dozens of these throughout the city,” he replied, then pointed at the floor. “That leads into a small tunnel. Each bunker has one. They’re secret routes through, as well as in and out of, the city. The bunkers and the tunnels are all coated in meranium.”

“Am I supposed to know what that is?”

“It’s a Nerakian metal. All our blades are made from it. It’s strong and doesn’t oxidize and, most importantly, has some special properties,” he explained. “Soundproofing is one of them. No one can hear us talk in here.”

“So no one can hear me scream in here,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.

He raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips in response. I’d obviously insulted him, but I was enjoying it a little too much to feel sorry.

“I have more than one way of making you scream, Miss Hellswan. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Caspian’s voice dropped by a couple of degrees, reaching freezing temperatures as he watched my eyes widen—a reaction I couldn’t control.

“Then you wonder why I find it hard to trust you,” I shot back, then shook my head to regain some of the focus I’d just lost. “What’s up with the tunnels?”

“They had nothing to do with the daemons getting onto the second level,” he replied. “Meranium is the one metal I know they’re extremely allergic to. Plus, the tunnels are too small to fit them. They’re mostly used by Imen.”

“And what do the Imen do with these tunnels, then?”

“I’ll tell you about it later.” He brushed me off with the wave of a hand, as if my question were completely irrelevant. It further contributed to my frustration, but I needed to keep my cool and find another way to figure him out. Getting on his bad side was not going to help. “It really isn’t important now, and it has nothing to do with why I brought you here.”

I took a deep breath and rubbed my face with my palms. It had been a long night already, and it was starting to feel interminable.

“Why am I here, Caspian?”

He scoffed, breathing heavily as he took a step forward, getting closer. I feared he’d hear my heart suddenly beating faster, so I cleared my throat, as if hoping it would cover the frantic thuds in my chest.

“What the hell were you thinking up there?” he hissed. “Blackmailing me? Really? You’re asking me to send fifty of my Maras to die with you in the Valley of Screams!”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get Fiona back.” I held my chin up, firm and unyielding. I had every intention of making sure we came out of this alive and in one piece. Having a dragon on our side greatly increased our chances. However, even though we could leave the scorching daemons part to Blaze, we needed manpower to cover all angles. The Exiled Maras were trained to guard and attack, and had better knowledge of those gorges. It wasn’t a light decision to make by any means, but we needed Caspian’s people with us for backup. Fiona’s life was worth it—we’d come here to help them, and, had they been more forthcoming about those damn tunnels and the prison in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? My Correction Officers will most likely die protecting your stubborn asses! I’m sorry about your friend, but why don’t you be a smart vampire and cut your losses? Leave Neraka now, before you all get killed in those gorges. There’s no point in dragging my people down with you.”

“You need to get something through your thick head, because I obviously haven’t made myself clear enough,” I shot back, my blood boiling. I poked him in the chest with my index finger—a habit I seemed to have developed when arguing with Caspian. “I will stop at nothing to get Fiona back. I need your Correction Officers for backup while I turn those gorges upside down and wash them in dragon fire! I will kill every daemon I come across until I find Fiona and get her back safe! You either help me, or I tell your fellow Lords that you were the one who helped us in the Valley of Screams. Your choice! Either way, we are going down there tonight. And I genuinely feel sorry for anyone standing in our way. Blaze is really fired up tonight, and I can’t wait to watch him burn it all down!”

Caspian stared at me, his gaze softening for a split second, before the jade in his eyes turned stone cold again and he let out a frustrated sigh.

“Clearly, there’s no way for me to talk sense into you,” he said bitterly. “You don’t understand what these creatures are capable of. You’ll die there, Miss Hellswan.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged, then gave him a wink. “But I’m not that easy to kill. If anything, you could tell me more about the daemons and your involvement in this whole mess, so I can at least do a better job of keeping your Correction Officers alive down there.”

“Trust me, Miss Hellswan, you don’t want to know.”

I couldn’t help but like the way my name sounded rolling off his tongue, despite the dark context.

Get a grip!

“Actually, I obviously do, but if you refuse to share more, we’ll have to make do,” I replied. “We’re going to get Fiona back. If you won’t tell me more, at least help me.”

“I’ll help you get torn to shreds, sure.” He shook his head, then pulled out a handful of disc-shaped medallions from his waistcoat pocket. “Put your hand out.”

I did as he asked, and he placed the metallic discs in my palm. They were small but sturdy, complete with thin chains. I stared at them, counting ten medallions.

“What are these?” I asked.

“There’s one for each GASP member, including Fiona. Provided, of course, that you find her alive,” Caspian replied. “They’re made of meranium, both pendant and chain. The daemons won’t be able to stay close to you for too long. It won’t stop them from trying to kill you, but there’s enough meranium in these things to keep them from consuming your souls.”

“So you knew about the soul-eating part.” I glowered at him. “Damn it, Caspian, you could’ve said something earlier, if you really wanted to help!”

“Who said I want to help?” His question cut through me, and a possible truth started to sink in.

“Then why did you help us? Back in the Valley of Screams… and tonight, as well. And now, with these pendants. If you don’t want to help, why are you helping us? It doesn’t make sense.”

Every second I spent near him dazed me further, to the point where I had trouble using basic logic. But everything Caspian had done so far had been contradictory. On one hand, he wanted us off the planet. On the other, he’d swooped in, and gotten himself injured in the process, just to help us fight off the daemons. With no clear understanding of his intentions, I was at a loss.

I stared at him, wishing so much that I could read his emotions, see ribbons of color coming out of him, so I could understand what he was thinking. He lowered his head, inching closer to my face. I craned my neck back a little to maintain eye contact. My stomach tightened.

“I wish I had an answer to that, Miss Hellswan, but I don’t,” he replied, his tone softer despite his marble expression.

“Well… thanks for these,” I mumbled, and looked down at the pendants, unable to hold his gaze without feeling my blood rush through my limbs in waves of hot and cold.

“Don’t thank me,” he said, his gaze darkening. “I’m only trying to give you all a quick death. Dying from soul consumption is something I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy, and it’s something I’m trying to stop from happening to my people, which is why I’m compelled to kindly ask you again that you keep my identity secret. No one in this city can know what I did for you.”

“Well, according to you, we’re off to our deaths, anyway, so I wouldn’t worry too much about me telling on you,” I replied. “But if we do make it back alive, I will have questions for you. Lots of them.”

He gave me a weak smile, and my heart skipped a beat. He looked… genuinely sad for a second.

“I’m sure you will,” he whispered, and I could swear I caught a hint of grief in his faded voice. “Goodbye, Miss Hellswan.”

He moved past me, his shoulder brushing against mine as he climbed up the ladder and pushed the trapdoor open. I followed quietly, feeling a chill sneak into my ribcage and clutch my heart. Its grip was tight and icy, and it was an emotion I’d rarely had the misfortune to experience. It was dread, and it came from the way in which Caspian had said goodbye. It sounded final.

I watched as he closed the trapdoor behind us and walked away down the street, vanishing around a corner without even bothering to cast me one last glance.

I slipped one of the pendants around my neck, hiding it beneath my leather suit, then shoved the others in my pocket. I had to get these back to my team, and I had to explain how I got them, and what they did, without any Exiled Maras overhearing us.

“I’ll need a piece of paper,” I muttered, shoving any last thoughts of Caspian aside and heading back to the infirmary.