"If you take me with you."
I blinked.
That I didn't see coming.
A laugh escaped me—sharp and humorless. "Right. And I'm supposed to trust you?"
He narrowed his red eyes. "Do I look like I'm kidding?" His jaw tightened. "You heard what they call me. A fucking pet. I want out of this hellhole as much as you do."
I stared at him, searching for the lie. The trick. The trap.
There was no way I was bringing Ari with us. He was treacherous. Cruel. Evil.
Us. Darius. The twins. Bunny and her children. That's who I was getting out of here. Not the monster who'd tortured me.
He'd turn on us the first chance he got.
But Darius... Darius was somewhere in this castle. With Alanna. Every second I wasted down here was another second she had him. Another second she was breaking him, using him, turning him into her puppet. If Ari could get us out of these cells, maybe I could find Darius before it was too late.
Maybe I could save him the way he'd saved me.
I looked over at Flint, Steel, and Bunny—their expressions spoke volumes.
Don’t make a deal with a devil.
But our choices were nil.
If I didn't do something, we'd be trapped in the dungeon until we all died. I looked at Bunny's kids—their stricken faces, their trembling bodies, the terror in their eyes.
I hated this. Hated that Ari might be my only option. But if trusting the devil meant saving Darius—saving these children—I'd shake his hand and deal with the consequences later.
I had little choice.
“If I did…” I met Ari’s gaze. “And I meanif—all of us would have to get out of here. Every single person in these cells. Or there’s no deal.”
I didn't expect him to agree. Why would he care about Bunny's children or the twins? But if he refused, I'd know exactly what kind of escape he was offering. The kind with strings attached. The kind that benefited only him.
His lips curved. “What a soft heart you have.”
Meaning he thought he could exploit me. Use my compassion against me.
He was wrong. I was stronger than that.
“Do we have a deal or not?”
Instead of answering, he pulled something out of his pocket. “Do you know what this is?”
He dangled it in front of my face—a long, delicate strand that looked like black spiderweb woven into the loop. It shimmered with dark magic, pulsing faintly in the dim light.
“Don’t play games, Ari. You know I don’t.”
“This is a web bracelet.” His red eyes gleamed. “A binding bracelet. It will link us together. If one of us betrays the other, the betrayer dies.”
I shuddered. Bound to Ari. Tied to this monster by dark magic.
But if it meant getting everyone out of here alive…
“Don’t do it,” one of the twins yelled. “You can’t trust him!”
