I walked through the series of stairs with as little sound as I could make. The shift was changing, so the guards were missing for the next few minutes. There were some patrolling guards on the ground floor, but I made sure they missed catching sight of me. 

With me, I had brought my sling bag this time as the trip was going to be long. I had to roll and pack my clothes for stay if needed. 

I knew where I had to head inside the prison, as I had already been here before. The people who had offended the Alpha were kept on the different side. It wasn’t a big prison as such on the surface. I wonder how it must be underground where the followers of John were held in dark cells. I climbed up to the second floor and took a sharp right. It was where my cell was located when I was held as a suspect here. Before I could reach my cell, in the adjacent cell, I saw the face I was looking for. 

Now that the guards were not there, I carefully took out the Cermesi knife from my asking bag before looking back inside the cell. 

The girl sat with her head held low, as if she was sleeping while sitting at the edge of her bed. It was funny how my cell was just next to this one and it was decorated in chains instead of such a comfortable layout, which the Cermesi princess had. 

My eyes set on top of her head, which was visible from where I stood. I flipped the Cermesi dagger in my hand and took my aim. 

The next second, I threw the dagger through the spaces in between the two bars of the prison cell. I wasn’t any professional, but I had handled pretty much all the weapons during my training sessions. The dagger swished through the silence of the prison and before it could go past her; she caught it between her two fingers. She had stopped the dagger inches away from her face, but the sharp side had still sliced between her index and middle finger when she held it. 

Her head slowly lifted up where the roots of her dyed pink hair had now turned black. She raised her head slowly before skilfully twirling the dagger in between her fingers, “I am sure you can do better than this to kill me.” 

“I can say the same thing,” I replied, “was that dagger a trick to lead me here, Hailey?” 

Hailey lifted her head before her eyes raised from the dagger to look at me. She slowly licked off the blood which trickled down her hand and hummed in satisfaction, “It has been a long time I tasted it.” My eyes narrowed at her behaviour. There was some kind of obsession Hailey held with the taste of blood, and it was creepy enough. “So tell me,” Hailey asked, “did my message reach you well?” she said while playing with the dagger as if it was some toy. 

“Yeah, unless you were trying to kill me,” I replied. 

Hailey placed her hand on her stomach and threw her head back before laughing out loud. It was enough to alert me and I looked around me to see if any guards had noticed it. But there was no movement, and it only made me suppose of Hailey laughed like this on a daily basis. 

“Selene, Selene, Selene,” Hailey repeated my words like a petty melody. She got up before slipping the dagger inside her pants. Her stride towards me was nothing less than a predator, “why would I have you die with someone else’s hand when I can relish in every moment of the fight which will take place between us when I am out.” I sighed at her statement before rolling my eyes. Hailey’s smile converted into a squit, “Don’t tell me you are not here for the note which I gave you… Alpha Selene.” 

My eyes went wide, remembering that as I went forward to hold the cell bars with such force my knuckles turned white, “So you were the one who ordered that dagger to be thrown at me!” 

“Of course,” Hailey admitted it without any hesitation, “I thought you forgot about the note I had sent to you along with my vote.”

How can some person be this obsessed with fighting that they would go to these lengths just to find a formidable opponent? I could have surely died that day if Fang had not been there to throw me out of the way. When I thought about it now, the dagger never came to my face. Rather, it was aimed at the water bottle in my hand. My teeth clenched before I relaxed myself and spoke in a calm tone, “I am not here for that Cermesi Princess.” 

Hailey was shocked for a slight second before she smiled, “You did your homework well.” Hailey stepped closer before whispering, “But unlike you, I don’t care if my secret is revealed. ” 

What was I going to do with this girl? 

I literally had to team up with her and get her help to reach Zelda but here she was still thinking about sparring. I doubted she even knew about what had happened in the village, “I am not here for having a dual with you-“

“Oh yes, you need my help with what my older sister did” Hailey stole the words from my mouth and I looked at her with suspicion. How did she have access to the news outside and could hire someone to just throw daggers at me? “Your eyes talk a lot, Selene,” Hailey remarked as she pulled out the dagger before running the bloody side of it over her tongue, “I am the princess of a reputed assassin clan. I have my sources no matter where I go.” 

“Good to know,” I flashed her quick smile, “then I am glad you extended your hand first for help.” I signalled at the dagger. 

Her throwing the dagger to bring me to her was a way to ask me to go see her and I was already here. It was not because of the dagger but rather I had seen her records in the book I had seen in the court. In the file that was filled with all the surnames starting with a ‘C’, the last page was Zelda, but somewhere in between there was Hailey Cermesi hidden and it did not take me long to connect the pieces. Standing in front of her, I still could not believe that this girl was a clan heir. 

Hailey sighed dramatically at my statement, “You see, Selene, I always wanted a reason to slice my sister’s throat but last time we were in a fight, Channing sentenced her to prison.” 

I tried to remember which incident she was talking about. When Channing had put Zelda in prison was right after he had revoked the mark he had done on her. 

If I remembered every other detail correctly, then that was when Ellie’s… that meant Zelda’s good friend Akame was killed. The worst that I was recalling was Fang and Hailey had a thing back then. Even if it was just a physical relationship, I couldn’t believe how these two psychopaths went along together and how did they fall out. I quickly dismissed Fang off my head and focused back on Hailey, “So you were patiently waiting for Zelda to be released?” 

“Yeah,” Hailey answered as if she was the most angelic person in the entire of Aldalolpha. 

My lips pursed in a thin line and my eyes drooped, “Seriously, Hailey?” 

“Selene!” I heard Channing’s voice from the direction of stairs and I quickly turned to see him fuming and walking towards me in full rage. There were guards who had started to disperse throughout the prison. The shifts had changed, and I could only imagine why Channing was so enraged. 

Hailey clicked her tongue several times as if to express her pity, “Looks like your new lover is not happy with your decision to free me.” 

“Excuse me,” I looked at Hailey, a little offended for no particular reason. 

Hailey giggled, “I mean, don’t you remember why I am here? How I had broken your ribs and Channing had begged you to stay alive.” 

“Nothing like that happened,” I quickly defended myself as if it mattered to me when, in fact, it shouldn’t. I looked back at Channing and then at Hailey. My eyes closed before I released a deep sigh, “Look, Hailey, I am not here to fight you but the problem which Zelda has created is a bigger one.”

“And?” Hailey drawled her words in anticipation. 

I rolled my eyes, “and I need your help to get her out from her hiding place.” 

Hailey’s lip pulled up from one side before she answered, “But what about your angry boyfriend?” 

“Channing is not my boyfriend,” I spoke a little louder and the voice silently echoed through the walls of the prison. The footsteps which I was hearing of Channing approaching slowed down and I guiltily turned around to look at him. There was a pain in his eyes and I could tell this man still liked me. It just made me feel worse for the way I had reacted to Hailey’s stupid enraging. 

Channing approached me and then looked at Hailey, who waved him a hi with the dagger that I had thrown at her.. He ignored her lunatics as if nothing and turned to me, “I won’t allow this decision, Selene.”