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“You personally escort prisoners through the Underground?” Tessa asked, both females subconsciously rubbing at their wrists.

“Sometimes,” Axel agreed.

“They never go outside?”

“Some cannot leave. Most find it safer not to.”

Tessa nodded. She wandered closer to one of the stalls, but Luka was there, pulling her to a stop.

“I just want to look,” Tessa groused.

“No,” Luka said. “We are not in the market for anything.”

“Let her look,” came a voice from the shadows.

Brave soul, Axel thought, his eyes narrowing in the direction the voice came from.

“We have no needs at the moment,” Luka answered, pulling Tessa back to the center of the cavern.

The voice tutted at him. “Everyone has needs, and here, any need can be met.”

“Any need?” Tessa said, her brows knitting together.

Shit.

The question had the figure appearing from the shadows. Tall and lithe, the female had dark hair that hung loose and limp around her shoulders. Her lips were curved into a cunning smile, and her gaze slid over them all.

Axel had already stepped in front of Kat, but she was peering curiously around him.

“Don’t ask her questions,” Axel whispered, and he saw her nod in his periphery.

“Anything you need can be found in the Underground,” the female answered. “Spells. Glamours. Weapons. Secrets. Revenge.”

Tessa rubbed at her wrists, the flesh red and raw from the bands keeping her magic subdued.

“Do not speak to her, Tessa,” Theon said sharply.

He had stepped in front of Tessa, and Luka had moved beside her. Theon’s darkness was drifting along the ground. Some were making their way towards the female, some were winding around Tessa’s legs, snaking up her torso. Luka bent and murmured into her ear. Tessa’s eyes went wide, and she nodded in understanding. Axel assumed he had filled her in on the fact that currency here wasn’t coin but favors, and simply having a question answered was enough to have you indebted to another.

The female tilted her head. “She is a prisoner.”

Clever with her non-question.

“She is mine,” Theon replied. “And you’d do well to remember such a thing, Witch.”

“Of course, my Lord.” Her tone held a hint of mocking. “But her question was answered.”

A swirl of darkness before Theon was tossing a knife at her feet. “I trust this to be sufficient payment.”

“It is, my Lord,” she answered, snatching the knife from the ground. “Safe travels.”

Then she disappeared into the shadows once more.

“I didn’t know,” Tessa whispered.

“It’s fine,” Theon said tightly.

None of them had expected to be approached, but they should have. The Underground was growing restless, and Axel hadn’t been able to make appearances as often as he had before. Another reason they were here on this small holiday from the Selection Year.