Despite the constant pushback from a planet whose dominant species wanted us in chains, and eventually dead, we’d actually made some progress. After we found that Darius of House Xunn was still alive, and actively engaged in an intricately designed plan to subdue us and bring more of our people to Neraka for the sole purpose of feeding on their souls, it sufficed to say that we had our hands full.

The rest of our team had barely escaped from Azure Heights with a mind-bent Blaze and horrific truths. The Four Lords, aided by the majority of their own people, had been conspiring with the daemons to bring more “soul food” to Neraka. The Imen population was dwindling, and they were bound to die out. From what Amund, Eristhena, and Ledda—the elders of the Imen village where we’d camped for the night—said, the Exiled Maras and daemons’ plan to breed Imen for blood and soul consumption didn’t work out too well.

Worst of all, the Druid delegation could still be on Neraka, after thousands of years—or at least some of its surviving members. The swamp witch was still alive, held captive and forced to spill her magic secrets. The daemons and Exiled Maras had managed to build a detailed plot, a theater play of sorts, complete with magic tricks and mind-bent Imen, to convince us that the Exiled Maras had truly started a new, better life here. They hadn’t. Not only were they still draining the blood of innocent supernaturals, they’d upgraded to consuming their souls, too.

Despite this stark painting of life on Neraka, there was still hope. We still had allies on the Imen’s side, as well as some Exiled Maras, and even daemons who didn’t want this kind of existence, and didn’t want their world to thrive on the backs and the suffering of others.

Arrah, the only Iman girl we knew to be resistant to the Maras’ mind-bending ability, had helped my team get out of Azure Heights. Cadmus had turned on his people, just as Caspian had done. Even more surprising was Zane, one of the seven daemon princes, the son of the king himself—he’d helped us out of Shaytan’s palace, and he’d also assisted Avril and the others in escaping from the Maras, who had finally revealed their sickening and despicable nature.

The planet was cloaked in some kind of magic that restricted our ability to communicate with GASP and Calliope via Telluris. If we could get to the swamp witch, we could put an end to that. The moment we could reach out to Draven and our families again, it would be over for these Nerakian overlords. At least we knew what we had to do, although we had a complicated road ahead.

Both daemons and Exiled Maras were out to get us, and we lacked strength in numbers. We were, however, much smarter and more resourceful than they’d given us credit for—and I sure as hell wasn’t going to give up as easily as they thought. Besides, I had a score to settle with these exiled bastards, for the blood oath they’d put Caspian under, and for destroying his family. He couldn’t reveal the swamp witch’s location without setting himself on fire, but Caspian was on our side, and desperate to restore order and peace on Neraka.

Most importantly, he’d become one of the most significant people in my life over a surprisingly short period of time. My heart fluttered whenever we got close, and, given the hunger with which he’d kissed me, the feeling was mutual. I’d come to Neraka to kick some ass and solve a mystery, and wound up falling for a royal-blooded Mara.

After we caught up with the rest of our team, we managed to get some sleep in the small teepees that the Imen had prepared for us. I didn’t want to leave Caspian alone in that cage, where the elders were still keeping him, but Jax and Hansa convinced me that I needed to get some rest, and that Caspian would probably be released in the morning. The Imen were simply traumatized by the Exiled Maras—I figured it would take some time for them to accept that not all of the Maras were evil and bloodthirsty.

My dreams weighed heavily on me throughout the night, and I found myself constantly running from red-eyed daemons and sneering Maras. I felt a presence near me, at some point, and immediately opened my eyes—I wasn’t sure if I’d dreamed it. Caspian was sitting next to me with his legs crossed, and his black hair tousled over his forehead. The faint light of dawn was visible through the teepee’s front slit. It was still very early, but Caspian had been freed.

I sat up, and gazed at him for a while. He didn’t say anything, either, but his smiling jade eyes told me everything I needed to know.

“I see they finally let you out,” I breathed.

“They’re just scared. I don’t blame them,” Caspian replied with a soft shrug.

A couple of moments went by in heavy silence. Last night’s urgency had worn off, and we were now sitting in front of each other with only a few inches, and the resurfacing memory of our kiss, between us. I didn’t know what to do with that. It was as if my courage had flown out of the teepee sometime during the night.

“So, what now?” I asked, feeling my heart pump faster as his gaze dropped to my lips.

“I don’t know. I guess… good morning?” he replied, slowly inching closer.

“Yeah, we could start with that, I suppose,” I murmured.

“I’ve got the perfect follow-up, though,” he said, then pulled me in for a kiss.

His lips were soft and warm, and I welcomed the taste of him. We were both hungry for each other. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight as he deepened the kiss. With no iron bars between us, I could finally feel his body against mine, and it was truly an experience that ignited my inner-sentry. His aura turned gold as he trailed soft little kisses along my jawline, then found the side of my neck.

His hot breath raised my temperature, making my spine tingle. I raked my fingers through his hair, prompting him to look up. Losing myself in his jade gaze, I brushed my thumb over his lower lip as he struggled to recover his breath.

“I’m afraid you’re going to be the end of me, Harper,” he whispered, then took me for another spin, kissing me deeply. His tongue tasted mine, and I found it difficult to control myself when he devoured me like that.

“Well, then, you’re free to run, now,” I chuckled, my lips pressed against his. He laughed lightly, then dropped a kiss on my forehead and gently laid us both down on the soft blankets. He held me close, his fingers tracing the curve of my waist.

“Why would I ever want to leave your side?” Caspian replied, then sighed. “When all I’ve been trying to do was to get closer to you.”

“I don’t know how to handle this, Caspian,” I said, my brow furrowed. “I’ve never been with anyone. I mean, dating and stuff. It’s not my forte, I guess. So, I… I have no idea how this is supposed to work.”

“Do you think I know?” Caspian smiled. “I’m as baffled by this as you are, Harper. But I know I’m not letting you out of my sight again. I’m constantly drifting toward you, and it’s time I stopped avoiding the inevitable.”

“What’s that, exactly?”

“The fact that you’ve become a central part of my existence, and I don’t mind it one bit.”

He floored me with that statement. His aura glowed gold, and he rolled us over. He pinned me down with his massive frame, while his hands found mine and slowly raised my arms over my head. I was putty in his hands, my pulse racing. Our hearts thudded in wonderful unison. He then guided my arms around his neck. His thigh slipped between my legs, and his fingers traveled down my arms, his thumbs brushing against my sides. He kissed me again, this time with fierce hunger, and I parted my lips, welcoming him in.

I was getting lightheaded, and I had no intention of coming down from this little flicker of bliss anytime soon. Caspian’s hands slipped under my lower back, his fingers digging into my skin through my suit’s layer of leather. I moaned against his lips, and he responded with a low growl as he gently bit and suckled at my lower lip.

“And I’m also genuinely terrified of you,” he whispered.

“Now you tell me?” I replied, and we both burst into laughter. He pulled himself back up into a seated position, and I joined him, with my arms still locked around his neck.

“You do. I can barely control myself when I’m with you,” he said, his index finger tracing the contour of my cheekbone.

I let out a heavy sigh. “You’re not the only one with that problem.”

“But you’re the only one who can read my emotions. While I have no idea what you’re thinking.”

My cheeks caught fire, my lips still tingling from his kiss. “That might change once… once we… you know.”

“Once we what?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. There was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. My temperature was rising, which was both delightful and unnatural—further testament to his impact on me, both physically and emotionally.

“You know. Once we… I mean, you know what I mean. It’s just…”

“Once we make love?” he replied, raising an eyebrow.

And boom, there goes my heart.

“I was going to say ‘once we get intimate’, but yeah,” I stammered. He narrowed his eyes at me, not buying it for a second.

“Were you, really?” He smirked.

My shoulders dropped, and I admitted defeat. “Okay, no. I just… Man, this is hard to talk about.”

“You mean to tell me that once we take this to the next level, I’ll be able to read your feelings the same way you read mine?” Caspian asked, going back to the full statement and sparing me another minute of awkwardness.

“Theoretically speaking, you’d become a sentry, like me,” I replied. “A Mara sentry, to be precise. But only theoretically. It didn’t really work with a Druid, for example. A Mara may be different…”

He nodded slowly, processing that information. “Sounds fun. We should try it.”

I blinked several times, not sure I’d heard him right. “Wha—What?”

“For the sake of… science. We should definitely find out if your sentry abilities get passed on like that. I’m more than happy to act as your test subject. Mind you, yours and yours alone,” he said, giving me a playful smile.

“What if you grow a second head, instead?” I replied, pursing my lips.

“Could that really happen?”

“What if it does? Will you still be happy to act as my ‘test subject’?”

“And have two heads to kiss you with? Sure,” he quipped, then tightened his arms around my waist, and pulled me in for another dizzying kiss. He filled me with warm, golden light, his emotions so powerful, so pure, that I could almost feel them as a part of my very fabric.

“You’re… different,” I said, taking a deep breath and putting a few inches of distance between us. If I didn’t, I knew I’d lose control, and we didn’t have the time, nor the privacy we needed, to test the whole Mara sentry theory, as much as I wanted to.

“Define ‘different’,” he replied.

“I think you’re more relaxed now, for some reason. There’s still a cloud of concern weighing over you, but, I don’t know, you don’t seem as dark as before,” I murmured, trying to interpret the accents of color in his aura.

He gave me a soft smile, tucking a lock of black hair behind my ear. “It’s probably because we’re here, in the open. I don’t have to hide from you anymore. Sure, I can’t tell you much, either, but at least you know why. You’re still here, and not running as far away from me as you possibly can. I guess I have more to look forward to now than I did before.”

“Speaking of which, what do you think of our plan, so far?” I asked. He took my hands in his, and looked me in the eyes.

“Whatever you set your mind to, Harper, you will achieve it. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about that,” he replied. “But I’ve had the whole night to think about ways to help you without setting myself on fire.”

“I don’t want you to risk it, Caspian,” I said, shaking my head. “We’ll handle it our way.”

“No, listen. Neraka used to be more diverse, as you probably know. There were other species, powerful and feared, though vastly outnumbered by the daemons and nearly driven to extinction. They’re still out there today, just not in large numbers. Enough to cause some serious disruption.”

“What do you know about them?”

“There are three species you’ll want to focus on, somewhat scattered across this side of the continent. You might have to rethink your strategy to cover more ground in as little time as possible, on top of looking for the—”

“Swamp witch,” I interrupted him. “Don’t say it.” I couldn’t bear to see his face turn red and literally burn, due to his blood oath. Whatever I could do to spare him the suffering, I did. His gaze softened, and that warm golden glow returned, further confirming my suspicion of how he felt about me. The L word. “What are these three species?”

“The Adlets have higher numbers,” he replied. “Once you meet them and talk to them, you’ll understand why. They’re double spirited, so to speak. Like the Druids and the Lamias. In one form, they look like us. In another, they’re beasts, much like the pit wolves but with thick red fur.”

That sounded eerily familiar. “Like werewolves,” I breathed. “They can turn from humanoid to beast.”

“Yes,” he nodded, “though I don’t know what a werewolf is.”

“It’s a supernatural species we have back home. Once we get out of this mess, I’ll introduce you to some,” I quipped, then kissed his cheek and waited for him to continue. He smiled, squeezing my hands.

“The Adlets were last spotted in a region to the northeast of here,” he continued. “Once we’re all gathered around a map, I can show you. To the northwest, closer to the second daemon city, is a suspected settlement of Manticores. You’ll have to be careful with them. They’re rare, but deadly. They’re hybrids of sorts, with bodies mostly like ours, but their hands have long claws, and their tails sting with lethal venom. They’re extremely territorial, and word has it they’ve been able to hold onto a few patches of desert land.”

It was my turn to nod, as I processed the information, and quietly built a map in my head, reassigning tasks in a way that best matched our priorities. “And the third species?”

“The Dhaxanians. Few of them remain, but they’re nearly impossible to kill,” Caspian said. “They’ve secured a mountain chain farther to the northeast, where they have full control over the terrain. Where daemons thrive on heat and fire, the Dhaxanians are harbingers of cold and frost. Everything they touch freezes, and that can be lethal when aimed at an enemy.”

“How are you allowed to tell me all this?” I asked, relieved to hear him talk so freely without suffering from the blood oath. In all fairness, we had a pretty good idea of how the spell worked already, but it was still fascinating to discover the limits of revelation before the burns kicked in.

“These creatures are not a secret. They’re part of Neraka,” he replied. “I’m not allowed to talk about the… conspiracy, and everything that involves this collaboration between daemons and Exiled Maras…”

He hissed from the pain as several red blotches appeared on his face. “Stop it,” I whispered, and pulled him close. He instantly responded, holding me tight, and his lips found mine. We lost ourselves once more, my heart aching for him and my soul beaming.

The burns healed fast, but it didn’t mean they weren’t painful. Judging by the outbursts of red in his aura, the blood oath took its toll, and I suffered, too.

“I have to admit,” he muttered against my lips, “if this is how you’re going to react whenever I set this curse off, I’ll put up with the pain just so I can experience this, over and over.”

“You’re a masochist,” I chuckled, then gently bit his lower lip.

He let out a low growl from his chest, tightening his grip on me. “And you’re playing with fire, Miss Hellswan. Careful, or you’ll get burned.”

“It’s too late for that, Lord Kifo,” I replied, using his dignified tone. “I’m already in too deep.”

He exhaled, then kissed me again. We couldn’t get enough of each other, and, the more time we spent together, the more difficult it became to envision a future in which he wasn’t present. My stomach was tied up in deliciously painful knots as he ran his fingers through my hair and deepened the kiss.

It was too late. I was already burning up, like a rock hurled onto the surface of the sun, and I could no longer have it any other way.