She moved forward, ready to brace behind him just as she had done to Henrick’s attendant only two days before. Except Caden was trained, so when her hip cocked against his, he slung an arm around her shoulders …

And brought her down too.

She landed on her stomach. Caden landed on his back, and for several seconds, neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved. Safi just stared into the sand and tried to get her lungs and skull working again. Her wrist hurt. Her weak ankle too.

“If,” she panted out eventually, “I’m a Hell-Bard now, then why won’t you tell me how to get into the Keep?” She swiveled her head and found Caden watching her. Sweat glistened on his red face; the scar on his chin stood out white and long.

And not for the first time, Safi was struck by how thrice-damned handsome he was. No wonder he tricked you so easily in Veñaza City. He had been the Chiseled Cheater then. Now, he was Caden fitz Grieg—and now, Safi knew she could trust him through hell-fires and back.

“Why do you need to get into the Keep?” His chest moved in time to his shallow breaths. “Trust me when I say the Keep is not a place you want to go. It’s not a place I or any other Hell-Bard wants to go. It is…” He hesitated, as if searching for the right word. “Bad.”

“Bad,” she repeated. That descriptor could mean so many things.

“If you’re hoping to find a way out of this curse, you won’t find it there, Safi. All of us”—he spun a tired hand—“have hoped for that same thing. And we’ve only ever found disappointment.”

But I’m not like you, she wanted to volley back. You don’t have a Truth-lens, Caden, and you aren’t half the Cahr Awen. Safi wasn’t that person anymore, though—the one who always had to retort. Who always needed the last, fiery word. These Hell-Bards had tried and failed to earn freedom; she would not disrespect their trials by claiming her own chances were any better.

Instead, she said: “I have to try, Caden. I have to see the heart of it all with my own eyes. And perhaps … perhaps there will be some clue there about my uncle.”

Caden’s expression softened at those words. “I see.” With a grunt, he pushed to his feet and offered Safi a hand.

She took it. But once he had her upright, he didn’t release her. Instead he tugged her close. “There is a way to get you there, Safi. A quick way that even Henrick cannot deny. But you aren’t going to like it.” His face was mere inches from hers, their fingers still intertwined.

“Anything,” she breathed, leaning in more closely. “Caden, I’ll do anything.”