We walked down a winding series of stone corridors, escorted by five guards in front and behind us. If the hall was the belly of the beast, these were the intestines.

Dragging Dugan along by the arm, I wondered what to expect from the meeting with the Lagos brothers.

Finnick hated me, but Van was different. Talking to him was like two cats circling each other. There was sincere curiosity as we probed for weaknesses. How could there not be? He’d never met an “elf,” and I didn’t know how to create fire that didn’t burn.

Dugan still had a distant expression on his face. His relationship with the Lagos brothers was also complicated. He outed himself as a mage but saved Van Lagos' life. That had to count for something.

Our escort stopped at a pair of thick wooden doors. The older guard knocked on it.

It cracked open to reveal a woman in similar patchwork leather armour. She was the first female guard I had seen in Steeltown, with olive skin, an attractive diamond face, and long, black hair that she wore in a braided ponytail. She looked at us, nodded to the older guard and opened the door.

We were led into a sitting room with expensive red sofas and chairs around a low, rectangular table. Van Lagos sat with his legs spread wide on a long sofa. Finnick sat in a chair next to his brother. Rose-scented candles lit the room, making the scene… intimate.

Van waved us in.

"Please sit."

I scanned the room before sitting down with Dugan on a sofa across from Van Lagos.

"Lira, leave us."

"But-"

He turned to her; one eyebrow raised.

"As you wish."

She slinked out of the room without a sound.

Quiet that one. Quiet and deadly.

Van Lagos let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"What a night! HAHAHAHA!"

He reached for a glass decanter on the table and poured water into a crystal cup.

“Only water for me for the next week.”

“Sobriety doesn’t suit you, brother. I doubt you last a day.”

Van Lagos recoiled as if punched.

“A day?! Do you think so little of our older brother? I’ll bet you two hundred gold pieces that I do it.”

“Three hundred.”

“Deal!”

Van Lagos poured another glass of water and handed it to Finnick, who lapped it up like a cat.

I blinked at the brothers. I didn’t expect them to be so… lively.

Van Lagos poured two more glasses of water.

"I thank you for saving my life. Drink?"

I stared at the crystal cups. Reed had said arsenic was odourless and tasteless; would it also be colourless? Poisons were a blind spot in my training. Sin avoided them—she said it took the fun out of killing.

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Van Lagos burst out laughing.

“Look at his face, brother!”

Finnick narrowed his eyes at me.

“He calculates…”

“As would any man, tonight has shown us that drinking can be a deadly habit.”

Van leaned back into the sofa, taking a long sip from his cup.

“Ah! Now, were we?”

“You were thanking Dugan.”

I glanced at him. Dugan was still out of it, staring at the cups on the table.

"What’s going to happen to him?"

Van shrugged.

"He’ll enjoy the hospitality of our estate."

"I mean, what will you do to him?"

Van Lagos’s eyes turned hard. He bared his teeth, long canines glinting in the candlelight.

"Do you know what we are?"

I paused. An unseen tension filled the room. One wrong move—one wrong word, and there would be blood. The word was caught in my throat. It was one thing to say it. Another thing to say that word to someone's face.

"Foulborn," Dugan said.

Finnick scowled. Van smiled.

"A nasty word for a nasty business. We are many things, but we will not make another child go through what we went through."

His lips curled in distaste.

"Raised from childhood to be a weapon. Do you know what that’s like?"

"I do."

Van Lagos narrowed his eyes.

"Why do I believe you?"

"You’re a great judge of character.”

He paused for a long moment and then… laughed.

“I like you, Jacob! The Eyes of Dahl never lie.”

“What are the Eyes of Dahl?”

Van Lagos raised an eyebrow.

“These Luskainians are savages!” Finnick said.

“Calm, brother. They are ignorant of Dahlgeshi history.”

I perked up—The chance to learn Dahlgeshi history. Many scholars would trade their left leg for the opportunity.

“I would love to learn if you let me.”

Van Lagos turned to his brother.

“See ignorant, not savages.”

“I see little difference.”

Van sighed before turning back to me and Dugan.

“When the elves invaded from the North, they enslaved the beastkin and forced them to bear human children.”

“Heh! In a way, humans were the first foulborn,” Finnick said.

“Of the beastkin that escaped, many wandered into the great desert at the heart of our country. The elves, too lazy to pursue, cursed the desert, renaming it the Ashen Sea. They wanted to kill the beastkin with heat—cremate them down to their bones. Instead, the beastkin were transformed.”

Van Lagos smiled.

“When the humans rebelled against the Elvish Empire, a group of slaves, led by a woman called Gesh, escaped into the Ashen Sea, and met these beastkin. The humans called them Dahl for their hardiness, and together, they became the Dahlgesh.”

I nodded along. It was a creation myth for their nation that was similar in many ways to our own. While their myth was themed around fire, ours was themed around water—opposite elements that were now at war. Maybe it was destiny.

“But what are the Eyes of Dahl?”

Van Lagos laughed.

“How could I forget the most important part?! When the humans discovered the Dahl, their eyes had turned orange like the setting sun, a symbol of them defeating the heat.”

“Quelling the fire.”

Van Lagos smirked.

“Just so. In every Dahlgeshi flows the blood of Dahl, the one tribe of beastkin never conquered by the elves. Among us, a rare few bear the Eyes of Dahl, a symbol of their eternal defiance.”

I let that sink in. I'd never thought too much about my orange eyes. It was usually my ears that got the attention. Yet, my connection to these beastkin had to be more than chance.

"Could you guide me to Dahlgesh one day?"

Finnick spit out his water.

Van Lagos raised both eyebrows.

"Your interest in my country is admirable, but… we can’t go back.”

“Why not?”

The brothers exchanged looks.

“Brother… don’t do it.”

“Our new friend wants to know. What’s the harm?”

Van unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a tattoo of a four-winged insect on his muscled chest.

“What’s that?”

“A dragonfly. The symbol of the crime lord that owns us and his way of tracking us.”

I thought back to Rugar's sewing needle pinned to my coat. It made sense that there was more than one way to skin a cat.

“We escaped his service, but his reach is far. So, we made like the Lagos bird and flew North. As long as we stay in Luskaine, we’re free.”

Ironic. The only place they were free was enemy territory.

“It’s late. Let’s end this,” Finnick said.

“Yes. I’ll have guest rooms prepared for you both. Lira!”

The woman burst into the room, one hand on her sword handle.

“Van Lagos?!”

“Show my friends to the guest suites.”

I raised my hand.

"If it's all the same, we were already staying somewhere else."

Van Lagos arched an eyebrow.

"Is that so? Then, I will send out the word. Dugan is under the protection of the Lagos brothers. While you are in Steeltown, no harm will come to you."

Dugan nodded.

“T-Thank you.”

“A life for a life. Right, brother?”

Finnick grit his teeth and nodded.

That was the closest thing we could expect for an apology.

“Excellent. Lira, get some guards to escort them home.”

Lira looked from Van Lagos to me and Dugan, releasing her white-knuckle grip on the sword handle.

“We’ll leave immediately.”

I sank back into the sofa.

We did it. We survived… again.