Meg holds my gaze through the door – dark eyes glittering. I don't look away. My heart thuds hard in my chest. And something else builds in there too – a storm, raging within my ribcage.

The Furies want to torture me for information.

Yet I think they have information about me that I want, too.

It confuses me. Because there's a part of me....

There's part of me that is not afraid. There's a part of me that wants to be alone with them. There's a part of me that thinks I could fight them; beat them if I had to.

I grit my teeth.

They want to torture me? Try it...

But that's insane. They're literal goddesses of vengeance.

And yet...

Meg smiles then steps back. I watch her and her sisters as they walk down the corridor - Tis's eyes lingering on me for a minute.

As soon as they disappear from sight, I turn to the rest of the clinical cell we're trapped in – heart thudding hard against my chest; through fear, or something else, I'm not sure.

Cal stands stiffly by the padded white wall – jaw clenched, slender fingers tapping against his beige pants. He catches my eye momentarily, but I can feel Cupid watching me.

I glance over at him and our gazes lock instantly. Something burns behind his irises – something wild and hot and dangerous; something that warms my blood despite the coldness I've felt since we arrived here. His chest moves up and down quickly beneath his blue shirt, unbuttoned at the collar.

Then, in a split second he crosses the linoleum floor, stopping inches before me. He takes my cheeks in his hands, despite his wrists being bound by chain, and wrenches my face to his. I have to grab the cotton of his top to steady myself - clenching my fingers around the material, my knuckles brushing his torso – as he claims my mouth with his.

I breathe in sharply – caught off guard; his tongue overwhelming my mouth, and his lips, hard as they move against mine.

And then I kiss him back. His taste floods my mouth. His scent consumes me.

And everything is pushed violently away – the fear, the anger, my temporary insanity, the Furies, the fight between me and Cupid earlier. It's just me and him. And his mouth, hot and urgent against mine. And my pulse racing beneath my skin.

And then Cal, tsking, in the corner of the room.

It jolts me back into the clinical cell – breathing hard. Cupid pulls back, forehead leaning against mine, his hot breaths tickling my face.

"I'm so sorry." There's a slight plea in his voice. "I'm so sorry, Lila. I've put you in danger. We shouldn't have brought you here."

My bound hands still cling to his shirt.

"I had to come," I say softly. "I had to. Valentine -"

"Yeah." A darkness crosses his expression, his eyes hardening. He step backs, taking his warmth away. His hands drop from my cheeks and he exhales. "Yeah. My dear older brother will only speak to you. You're our best option of making a deal with him for the box. I know."

He moves away from me and leans against the metal table in the center of the small room. He rubs his face with his bound hands. I exhale.

It bothers him that Valentine and I have a connection. I get it. With their shared history with Psyche I understand why it would.

But what choice do we have? We need that box. 

Our gazes lock. His eyes burning into mine. He gives me a pained smile - his lips redder than usual from the force of my kiss; a smile that I think means he understands too.

He raises his eyebrows.

"And seeing as my younger brother gave away our obols..." he fires a look over his shoulder at Cal who hurriedly averts his gaze - suddenly seeming to find the opposite wall very interesting, "it seems we should probably work on a plan B if we want to find him. I don't want the Furies getting anywhere near you."

"Charon will come," says Cal. His eyes pass over me before meeting Cupid's. "But Lila is not getting tortured before he gets here."

"Glad we agree on something, brother. I'm thinking we do the whole - wait until they come to take her, fight them, win, and escape through the open door - plan. You got my back?"

Cal inclines his head the leans back against the wall, folding his arms against his chest. His jawline hardens and his silvery eyes focus somewhere over my head outside the door.

I look between them, then sigh and go and sit in the opposite corner of the room.

Cupid makes it sound easy to escape. But our hands out chained, we have no weapons, we're stuck in the Underworld with no place to go, and we're facing three goddesses.

I can't help but feel that it's not going to be quite so simple.

I look down at my hands, bound in my lap, then slowly turn my palm upwards to study it – my mind flicking back to Valentine.

I think the Furies know something.

I clench my fist, curling my fingers over the white scar on my palm.

I want to know what it is

***

Time passes slowly in the cell – Cal leaning rigidly against the wall, Cupid laying back on the table hands behind his head, and me lost in my thoughts in the corner.

We need to get out of here. We need to find Valentine. We need to get that box before Venus's agents get it.

And I need to know what is going on; I need to know what Valentine is hiding from me. Because he's hiding something. He said he let me kill him in the cave; he said he gave me something.

I look at my palm.

I think of his eyes, burning into mine, as I sunk the Finis into his chest.

And then a hissing sound jolts me to attention.

Cupid sits upright on the table – bronzed hair ruffled. Cal's head jerks upright to the corner of the room and his face pales.

I follow his gaze.

Some kind of gas is entering the corner of the cell – a white cloud of it – trickling in and twisting slowly through the air towards us.

"Well that doesn't look good..." says Cupid.

"Don't breathe," says Cal – clasping his bound hands over his mouth as the gas comes towards him.

"Easier said than done, brother..."

I push myself further into the corner of the room – eyes locking onto Cupid who throws his elbow over his face as he jumps to his feet – making his way towards me as the cloud descends upon him. 

And then suddenly he stops – something glazing over his eyes. He blinks hard and removes his arm from his face. He frowns.

"Cupid?" I say.

He gives me a puzzled look.

Something jolts in my stomach. I look at Cal. He's breathing in the air now as well - jaw tensed. His eyes harden as they meet mine. When he catches sight of Cupid they turn to ice.

"You. What are you doing here?" he says.

Cupid turns, surprised. The corner of his lip turns up. "Brother? It's been a while!"

What?

Cal crosses the room and grabs Cupid by the collar of his shirt – pushing him hard into the wall. 

"What are you doing here?" he says.

My eyes widen as Cupid chuckles. The cloud descends closer towards me. I cover my mouth. Hold my breath.

What is going on?

Suddenly there's a buzzing sound. The door opens. And a hand grabs me and pulls me out into the corridor. I cough, hard, on the linoleum floor, as the cell is sealed – trapping Cupid, Cal, and the strange mist inside. 

I look up, eyes watering.

Tis, the blonde Fury, stands over me in her black leathers – a smirk on her face.

"What have you done to them?!" I say. "What is that?!"

"Just a bit of steam," she says.

Her grin widens as she glances at Cupid and Cal, fighting inside the cell.

"That is not steam," I hiss.

"Well, it's made from water from our River Lethe. So it has a pretty unique property to it."

She pulls me up by the collar of my jacket and forces me to look through the glass as the mist clears. Cal still has Cupid pushed against the wall, and Cupid is laughing - ocean eyes taunting as they hold Cal's gaze. She pushes the buzzer and they both snap their heads towards us.

"Hi, boys," she says. "Tell me who this is – " she yanks me closer to the center of the transparent door. "And I'll let you go free."

They both look at me blankly.

"Never seen her before in my life," says Cupid.

My stomach plummets through my body. My blood turns to ice.

"Very well," says Tis. "As you were."

The two brothers lock eyes again – Cal's jaw tensing.

Tis grins as she turns to me – brown eyes glinting wickedly.

"It makes people forget," she says. "They have no idea who you are. So you and I have no chance of being interrupted. And I very much want to spend some uninterrupted time with you. I want to look at your soul."