“So, she lied.” He settled against the wall next to me, his voice tight as he leaned carefully into the metal. In my peripheral vision, I could see a trickle of dried blood running down his temple, a dark bruise beginning to form above one eye. From the way my whole face was throbbing, I knew I looked just as rough. “Or made a mistake.”

“Mist doesn’t make mistakes.” I shifted to a more comfortable position, one that didn’t put pressure on my injured ribs. “She’s a Basilisk. We’re trained to remember the tiniest detail, no matter how insignificant, because our lives may depend on it. And you didn’t spend much time with her, but from what I saw...” I shook my head. “She’s good. Much too good to forget something as important as dosing your interrogation victims with the right drug.”

He eyed me from against the wall. “If she was that good, how did you escape the first time?”

“I said she was good.” Despite the hopeless situation, I grinned, which turned out to be rather painful as my cut lip tore open again. “But I’m better.”

“Well, nice to see that my abilities weren’t completely written off.”

I looked up. Mist stood in front of the cell door, arms crossed as she peered through the bars at us. Her blue eyes raked over us both, assessing, before she smirked. “Luther certainly did a number on you both, didn’t he?” she observed. “Unfortunate that had to happen, but from the hissy fit he was throwing when he left this morning, I’m guessing you didn’t tell him anything.”

I threw back my own smirk. “Is that why you’re here, Mist? Come to finish the job? You think you can do better?” She probably could. Dragon constitution or no, I ached. My head hurt, my face felt swollen to twice its size and moving the wrong way sent a sharp twinge through my ribs. The thought of yet another “interrogation” session made my gut curl with dread.

I just wanted to lie down on the nice, cold floor and let my bruises start to heal. But showing weakness like that to a Basilisk, who was trained to spot and exploit the tiniest flaws and weak points, was a huge mistake. Even if she was going to kill us afterward. So I rose, ignoring the pain in my side, and walked to the front of the cell, staring at her through the bars. She gazed coolly back, unconcerned, and I narrowed my eyes.

“What’s your game?” I asked. “I know you didn’t give us the wrong drug by accident.” I curled my lip into a smile. “Or was that the plan? You knew Luther would be taking over the interrogation, and you didn’t want him to be the one to make us talk. That honor would be all yours.”