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She stops outside a set of ornately carved wooden doors that are so big that they could have been made for actual giants, and I’m not even exaggerating.

“Wow,” I mutter in awe, and Mabel smiles at me.

Kylen huffs and rolls his eyes, “Come on then, let’s get this over with, and find out that the cunt is supposed to be on our team.”

Kylen hits the floor as Coen’s fist comes out of nowhere and knocks him clean out.

There’s a moment of shock before everyone, including Fetrick and Rupert, starts chuckling.

“Oh dear,” Mabel says. “Does someone care to wake him? We really should get inside.”

Evander grins, “Say no more.”

Kylen sits bolt upright, spluttering and coughing, as Evander drops water over his face to wake him up.

“What happened?” he immediately demands as he stands up.

“No time for that now,” Mabel says, as she begins to usher everybody through the door.

I’m still smiling as we all walk into a ginormous single room. The ceilings are domed, and so high that while I can tell that there is something painted on them, I have no idea what it is, although I imagine that it’s a similar design to the one that carries on down the walls, and covers the floor too. If that’s the case, then the design on the ceiling is made up of battles, and supernaturals from all the realms, some that I don’t recognize, and some that are very familiar to me. It’s absolutely fascinating, but now that we’re in here, the end is so fucking close that I just want to be done with it.

The room is almost completely empty, standing in the middle is fairly ordinary looking supernatural, he’s big, but not as big as any of my guys, and he’s wearing robes, but the most notable thing about him is that he’s got grey hair and a neatly trimmed grey beard as well. Supernaturals take a really, really long time to go grey. Meaning, he is really fucking old. I wonder if he’s been here since the very first one, but as my mouth opens to ask, I remember the situation we’re in and snap it closed before anything comes out.

I have no idea what kind of supernatural he is, apart from the purplish tinge to his skin; there is no other discernible quality. He’s standing by the only other thing in the room—a copper-veined, black stone plinth, with a very ancient-looking scroll resting on top.

Excitement builds, and I shift on my feet, unable to stay still.

“I need one team on the left, one team on the right, and Neith in the middle, please,” he orders, his voice deep and full of wisdom.

I don’t know why it surprises me that he knows my name, he probably knows the names of all the guys, too, but my eyebrows do rise slightly in surprise as I move to stand where he has asked me to.

“Great, I’m Edwingliusly, but you may call me Ed since it’s easier to remember. So, this is pretty straightforward. I’m sure by this point you all want to get back to your lives,” he starts, with a smile that instantly makes me like him. “I’m going to say the spell to activate the scroll, which will allow the Choosing to put the team chosen on the scroll, which could take seconds, or it could take a little bit longer. We wait. I will then read the scroll and announce which team Neith will be on and the new Warrior Team. Then the other team will exit, and the Warrior Team will receive their new gifts. After that, you will be free to leave and head back to the castle.”

It seems a little bit anticlimactic, after everything that we’ve been through, but the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense. I don’t want a big fuss made, and I know that the guys wouldn’t either. Plus, whichever team wins is going to get a lot of attention from a lot of powerful supernaturals when they leave here.

Shit.

Why hadn’t I thought about that before, that’s going to be a fucking nightmare if we win. Hopefully, Ty will be on it by the time that we get back, and everyone will have chilled out a bit. It’s not like we will be going straight back to work anyway. I need at least a week off before anything else hits the fan. I need to find Pete and deal with all of that as well.

The voices chide me for not paying attention to what’s going on, and I almost smack myself.

“That’s it?” Kylen asks.

Ed narrows his eyes at Kylen, “What were you expecting, a parade?”

“Yes,” Kylen retorts.

“That wouldn’t be very smart, would it?” Ed asks. “Whoever wins is going to be pretty weak after the magic transfer, which will give them new gifts, which means that they will be vulnerable for a short amount of time. Having a parade wouldn’t be a good idea when there are some people out there who would take advantage of that.”

Kylen doesn’t say anything, and I cringe. This supernatural deserves a hell of a lot of respect, and Kylen is giving him nothing.

“Sorry,” I can’t help but say.

Ed’s gaze moves to me and instantly softens. “Don’t need to be apologizing for someone else, Neith.”

I shrug, “I know, but I felt like you deserved an apology, and he sure as shit wasn’t going to give you one.”

“Fuck you,” Kylen growls.