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CIRCE

“Stab your lover in the heart.”

Only that thought consumes my existence. Her voice commands. Her will is my own.

Fulfilling that command will fulfill me. Complete me.

A pang of heartache stings somewhere in the distance, a fleeting sensation.

I must do as I am told.

Dashing forward, stooping in mid-run to snatch the knife tossed by one of the armed security guards lining the perimeter of the arena. My arm flexes, my blade speeds in, a bare chest fills my vision. My target.

“Ero, defend!” Ananke barks.

His hand lashes out, deflecting my strike and slamming an elbow down on my shoulder. I dive with the blow, tucking and rolling to my feet. My instinct draws my guard back around, expecting retaliation.

None arrives.

Ero stands stock still, waiting for me.

Another attack, this one sudden and explosive, with so little space between us. Slash down to disable his blocking forearm, jab in?—

Palm slaps the slash wide, my recovery is flawless, but still curled into the crook of his arm and forced straight up over his shoulder, scoring a slice along his trap. And he freezes there, staring forward as if I’m not even there.

Hesitation rattles around my orders, if only because I see something of myself in the way he’s reacting. Only following the single order given. Ananke’s desire reasserts itself and I pull back?—

“Kiss the boy!”

And oh, I do.

Both hands around his neck, slamming my lips against his.

Ero thrusts an arm between us, breaking our lip-lock and shoving me aside. I lunge in again and he dodges.

“Catch her!” Ero’s arms invite me into them when I aim for his mouth. “Twirl to the beat, now, and don’t hold back.”

Lights and faces swirl as we fall into a side-stepping spin, right on the downbeats of the orchestra. Dizzying arcs take my feet from the ground, Ero’s arms twined around my waist. Letting go, I arch backward over that embrace, my arms and legs bending away from him in the pull of our orbiting force.

“Stop!”

On a dime, mistress.

My lungs heave, Ero huffs. Both of us frozen in place, skidding to a halt still interlocked. A thrill zips up my spine, elated to have completed each task thus far. Ananke smiles at me, tilting her head in approval.

Sweet satisfaction rolls over me. Undercut with a sickening clench of my stomach.

“Dual blades, to the death, and do not fail!” Her words are punctuated by the shink of four sword tips sinking into the dirt between foundation stones.

I barely blink and the grips fill my fists, rising to split Ero’s doublehanded downward chop. My defense throws his arms wide, my kick lands dead center, launching him backward.

Thrust, slash, backhand, reverse?—

All into thin air. Ero springs to the left outside my reach, hammering my blade with a resonant bell toll of steel. The vibration reverberates up my arm, numbing my wrist and elbow.

Pain lances through my entire arm, but it’s irrelevant.