z P

ve was damp and smelled of blood and something else-the unique, scorc

hand reaching for his n

were an inch from his s

g silver-gray filled with the wariness

st. The strength was shocking, a crushing f

but I didn't scream.

my voice steady.

ce. I could feel the heat radiating from

even. "In a few more hours, your organs will be tu

The killing intent in his eyes recede

asped, his voice a

uestion. "Do yo

boring into me. Finally, he slowly released my wrist

ad multiple knife wounds, the most severe being a deep gash in his a

, but in reality, I retrieved a sterile scalpel and a set of

from nowhere, a flicker of surprise that quickly turned to something

od out of your wounds," I explained, not waiting for h

ling blood immed

sweat beading on his foreh

I inserted the silver needles into several points on his body, blocking the p

ress the poison temporarily, buying you some time

ready to sea

he cal

ck wall, his face still pale but his breathi

I was waiting for. I

o his eyes. "I save your life, and you give me a promise. Wh

unbalanced demand. I e

intense it felt like he c

eak, but it carried an undeniable weight of power. "I, Archon Caspian

ch

in power only to the High Sovereign himself. I had just save

kept my face a blank mask. "Good. Now, you should

, my heart hammering against my rib

bled, and

o gained a promise from someone powerf

a dark green paste, and returned to the cave. Caspian

n his abdomen. His torso was a landscape of hard muscle and old

been keeping me going vanished. A wave of pro

floor beside him and sur