As we headed toward the Broken Bow Inn, taking two steps at a time, I looked over my shoulder, just to get another glimpse of the Valley of Screams in the distance. Tiny glimmers of red prompted me to stop, turn around, and use my True Sight.

There they are again…

The red eyes, hundreds of them, staring back at me from the darkness of the gorges, sent shivers down my spine.

“Harper, come on,” Hansa said from above.

I briefly glanced at her, and frowned.

“You didn’t see them?” I asked. “The red eyes in the Valley…”

“What are you talking about?” Hansa stopped in her tracks, then came down to join me.

She looked out at the gorges, squinting and pursing her lips, then shook her head. The others waited at the top of the stone stairs. I pointed at the gorges.

“The place is riddled with red eyes,” I said. “I saw them last night, after we got back. They’re there!”

I used my True Sight again, but I was only met with the pitch blackness of the Valley’s crevices… and the occasional echo of a scream. Someone else was being torn to shreds by the invisible daemons with flickering red eyes, none of which were staring back at me anymore.

“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath. “They were right there, hundreds of them. I swear!”

“I can’t see anything, either,” Jax said, then continued the climb to the inn.

“I’m not making this up,” I muttered, and followed, with Hansa by my side. “Maybe they’re mocking me…”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Hansa replied. “You did piss them off last night.”

I noticed her smirk and chuckled, then let out a heavy sigh.

“Maybe I am just seeing things,” I said.

“It’s been a long day.” Hansa winked as we reached the Broken Bow Inn. “Get some sleep, Harper. We’ve got more work to do tomorrow.”

I nodded and quietly stayed behind, watching my team go inside and upstairs to their rooms. I glanced around again, then focused my True Sight on the gorges. Still dark and seemingly empty.

“Typical,” I groaned, turning to go inside, when movement at the top of the mountain caught my eye. The edge of the inn level gave me a decent view of the upper echelons of Azure Heights, particularly the Five Lords’ terrace.

Music and laughter poured down from the ongoing Spring Ball, and there were plenty of Maras outside standing on the edge and sipping blood from their crystal flutes. But two, in particular, were quietly watching me. My True Sight showed them clearly—Caspian and Amalia, Emilian’s daughter and Lord Kifo’s not-so-betrothed-but-not-sure-what-she-meant-to-him-either.

Caspian’s expression was cold. He was glaring at me for the umpteenth time, in stark contrast to our little moment earlier, during our dance. Again, he looked like he would’ve loved nothing more than to watch me fall over the edge and break my neck.

You’re impossible to understand…

Amalia, on the other hand, seemed relaxed, wearing a curious smirk as she gazed at me from above. Her pale blond hair covered her shoulder, and her ballgown glimmered beneath the warm light of nearby streetlamps.

“Do you think she can hear us?” Amalia said, her eyes glued to me. Her voice was soft, and there wasn’t a single hint of maliciousness in it, making it difficult for me to interpret the meaning of her question. I didn’t want to let her know just yet that I could, in fact, hear them from down here. I wanted to hear what the brooding prince of darkness had to say first.

“She does have a habit of eavesdropping and snooping,” Caspian replied, still scowling at me. “I wouldn’t be surprised. She has all the makings of an undesirable with zero knowledge of social status.”

My blood boiled, but I didn’t take my eyes off them either. Caspian knew I could hear him, and he was being deliberately despicable. I would’ve liked to know why, mainly because it made my stomach churn, and I didn’t like experiencing such emotions in the presence of a guy who’d earlier made my knees feel weak.

“That’s a bit harsh, Caspian.” Amalia chuckled. I realized then that she was the wealthy socialite type who didn’t stand for anything, but was nice to everyone by design. I would’ve already smacked him if I were in her place.

“Nope, she’s been repeatedly advised to go away and leave these issues to us. She nearly got herself killed in the Valley of Screams. And yet she persists, even puts on a fancy dress and thinks she can blend in with the rest of us.”

My hands instinctively went for my blades, which I’d strapped to my thighs with leather belts. My fingers gently lifted the soft back of my silk skirt, grasping the handles, while I kept a straight face and listened.

“Well, you didn’t seem to mind, seeing as you danced with her.” Amalia gave him a nudge and an amused sideways glance. Caspian kept his focus on me.

“I was just being nice.”

Okay, that’s it!

I pulled my twin swords out with a metallic screech that startled Amalia. She gasped and caught Caspian’s arm, her fingers digging into the fine silk of his jacket. He smirked, satisfied by my reaction. He’d wanted to make me angry… He’d succeeded.

“I know you’re probably expecting me to scoff and walk away, seemingly offended by your willful ignorance and pathetic display of elitism, Lord Kifo,” I said, stressing each word. They both listened from afar. “But I’m not one to walk away from a secret. I’m the kind who pokes at it until it reveals itself to me.”

I crossed the blades in front of me, moving them slowly so the moons’ reflection hit Caspian right in the eyes, making him squint with discomfort.

“And if I find out you have something to do with people getting hurt around here, these blades will come looking for you. They don’t know social status, nor do they care,” I added, then lowered my swords.

Amalia looked genuinely shocked. Even from down here, and despite her natural pallor, I could’ve sworn she was flustered. I couldn’t be too mad at her, as she probably didn’t know much about our previous exchanges, and she surely knew next to nothing about me. But Caspian was a whole different issue. He knew exactly what he was doing. She walked away from the edge, while Caspian didn’t let me out of his sight. The only reaction I got from him was a scoff.

I knew then that he got my message, loud and clear.

I whirled and headed inside, blades in my hands. Several Imen waiters took a few cautious steps back as I headed upstairs and into my room. I locked the door behind me and dropped the swords on the floor with a double clang. My whole body was shaking, a mixture of rage and distress rumbling through me like a runaway train.

My breathing was ragged and my chest heavy as I tried to pull myself together.

How could he be so two-faced, so… divergent?

One minute he’s glaring and warning me to stay away, the next he’s dazzling me with his self-confidence and seductive touch, only to tear it all down by being an absolute jerk, basically asking for a good old-fashioned beating.

And I was the one trying to keep up, without getting my ego bruised.

Not that I’d done a bad job of defending it up to this point. I glanced down at my blades, then removed the sheaths from my thighs, slid my babies back inside, and put them by the bed. One look at them and Caspian had probably understood that I was not to be played with, that he did not have a free pass to intimidate or insult me.

The nerve of him…