“And if softness doesn’t work?”
“Then we find another way.” Ari’s smile was sharp enough to cut. “I’ve learned a few things about navigating systems that weren’t built for people like us. Ryxin thinks I’m adjusting to my position. What I’m actually doing is mapping every weakness he hasn’t thought to protect.”
Something loosened in Elsa’s chest. She’d thought she was alone in this—one human woman against a fortress full of predators, trying to stay alive long enough to figure out the next move. But Mia had been gathering intelligence through Yarx’s kindness. Ari had been studying power structures while everyone assumed she was merely surviving.
They weren’t helpless. They weren’t broken.
They were adapting. The same way any species did when dropped into hostile territory—learning the terrain, finding the resources, building alliances that might mean the difference between death and something like freedom. Doing what it took to survive—that’s what humans were known for.
“This doesn’t leave this room,” Elsa said quietly. “Not until we have a plan. Not until we’re ready.”
Both women nodded.
“One more thing.” Mia’s voice was steadier now, some of that early terror replaced by something more determined. “Yarx mentioned that the pit guards answer to a commander called Drekh. He’s been there for decades—one of the few who treats the position as a career instead of a punishment. If you want legitimate access, he’s the one you need to convince.”
Another name for the map. Drekh. Pit commander. The kind of authority figure who might respond to mercy or might respond to pressure, depending on what motivated him.
“How do I reach him?”
“Through proper channels, you’d need Sylas’s permission to even approach the pit access corridors. The Lux Sabers would have to escort you.” Ari paused. “But there’s another option. Ryxin has contacts in the lower levels. People who owe him favors. If I ask carefully—”
“No.” Elsa shook her head. “Not yet. If this goes wrong, I don’t want it touching either of you. Let me try the official route first. Make requests. Be patient. Show them I’m not a threat.”
Weaponized civility.The phrase floated through her mind, carrying echoes of corporate negotiations and diplomatic standoffs from a life that felt like it belonged to someone else. She’d learned how to be polite while being immovable. How to smile while applying pressure. How to make her demands sound like reasonable requests until suddenly they weren’t requests at all.
She could do this.
A knock at the door made all three women freeze.
“Five minutes.” Yarx’s voice came muffled through the wood.
The hour had vanished while they talked. It had felt like minutes—the way time always collapsed when something important was happening.
Elsa stood, and the other women rose with her.
“This was good.” She didn’t try to make the words soft or sentimental. They weren’t that kind of group—not yet, maybe not ever. They were survivors in enemy territory, pooling resources because the alternative was dying alone. “We do this again. As often as we can.”
“Yarx will help,” Mia said. “He likes that I’m...less fragile when I have people to talk to.”
“And Ryxin won’t question my visiting the infirmary suite.” Ari’s smile had an edge to it. “He thinks human women need to cluster. It makes us easier to manage, in his mind.”
“Then we let them think that.” Elsa moved toward the door, then paused. “Rowan and Milo. Whatever it takes.”
21
Sylas
He’d given her an hour.
One hour in the infirmary suite, surrounded by walls that didn’t belong to him. One hour with the other human females, doing whatever it was social creatures did when they needed to remember they weren’t alone.
Strategic. That’s what he’d told himself when he’d authorized it. Humans stabilized when they had contact with their own kind. Their vital signs steadied. Their cortisol levels dropped. Their capacity to function improved when isolation didn’t gnaw at the edges of their sanity.
Sylas stood at the junction where three corridors met, his posture suggesting he’d been passing through on his way to something more important. The Lux Sabers flanking the infirmary entrance acknowledged him with subtle dips of their heads but said nothing. They knew better than to question why their Alpha King had chosen this precise moment to appear in this precise location.
Through the bond, he tracked her. Felt her heartbeat as clearly as his own. The rhythm of her breathing. The emotional resonance that told him more than words ever could.
She was calm.