"Have you taken the Nine Transformation Pill?" Caleb Thorne asked bluntly.
I couldn't help but smile at the irony. "Didn't you say that it's fake?"
Caleb's expression tightened. "I may have been... hasty in my assessment."
"Hasty?" I raised an eyebrow. "Or deliberately misleading?"
His eyes darted to the jade box in my hand containing the Thousand-Year Ginseng. The tension between us crackled like static electricity.
"I'm prepared to offer you a fair trade," he said finally. "The Nine Transformation Pill for a portion of the Divine Medicine."
Conrad snorted beside me. "Now that Liam has something you want, suddenly the pill is real?"
I studied Caleb's face. The desperation in his eyes was poorly masked by his attempt at nonchalance. He needed this ginseng—badly.
"No," I said simply.
Caleb blinked, clearly not expecting such a direct refusal. "I don't think you understand the value of what I'm offering—"
