Page 25 of A Kiss From Death (Oath of Vengeance #1)

J udgment day is finally upon us. This week flew by in a blur.

My muscles ache from long training days, pushing my body to its limit.

None of that matters, though. What matters now is the performance I’m to put on for the Empress and all of Fallout and Lunaria.

It’s crucial to rank high for the start of the Crucible.

Getting the extra help in the last two rounds could mean life or death.

Des woke me up bright and early to prepare for today. Something about looking my best will make me perform my best. She braided my hair back and helped shove all my limbs into the tight bodysuit she made me.

Winston arrived shortly after to escort me to the Bubble.

His usual cheery demeanor was a bit sour today as he nervously chewed on each orange wedge he stuffed into his mouth.

He forgoes asking me if I want the little abominations that keep magically showing up, now snatching it from in front of my door, devouring it happily.

I expected Hade to tire of this little prank, but sure enough, since the night of my confession, a peeled orange has appeared every morning without fail.

It’s admirable how committed he is to the bit.

Neither of us have mentioned it, and I think it might stay that way forever.

Winston was extra quiet on the journey here. He gave me a quick but firm hug, wished me good luck, and slipped away into the shadows as my competitors arrived.

The arena is buzzing with life today, packed full of extra Vanquishers and Magicals setting up for each competitor’s performance. We are given the choice of any weapons or materials to use during our performance.

Magicals have worked tirelessly all morning setting up a space specific to each competitor’s needs, using objects and magic to make each area unique. I take in the ten specific setups, stretching my body in preparation.

“A double sided blade… That’s the best you could come up with? I thought you were smarter than that,” a gravelly voice grows from behind me as I bend, touching my hands to my feet, stretching out my hamstrings.

Ignoring the nosey voice, I stand tall and slide into a side lunge, bouncing slowly to deepen the stretch. Hade rounds my body in a flash, his face raging.

He narrows his eyes. “Are you just going to stand there and pretend I don’t exist?”

Dragging my body up, I slowly sink into a deep side lunge on my opposite side, the perfect depiction of unbothered.

“It appears so. Really great observational skills. Would you like me to ask the Empress to give you an award?” My response is smooth and nonchalant.

If he wants to be an ass, I can be one too.

Straightening, I turn around and pull one arm across my chest, looping the other on top, pulling it tight to stretch. Hade grumbles, annoyed, to himself and rounds my body, annoyingly coming into view again .

“You will not impress the Empress, let alone all of Fallout and Lunaria, by simply using a measly, double sided blade. What were you thinking?” he seethes.

A lot of nice things before you arrived.

I decide to keep those words to myself, though.

Dropping my arm, I pad forward, shoving my finger harshly into Hade’s solid chest. My finger twitches slightly in pain, but I remain stoic.

“I was thinking I wanted to use something no other competitor was using.” I press my finger harder into his chest. “I was thinking I wanted a weapon with dual purpose, something quick to throw and easy to hit a target.” I slam my finger into his chest one last time, inching closer to his pounding heart beneath my finger.

“I was thinking this was my best bet at standing apart from my competitors, who, I will remind you, have trained their entire lives for this, unlike me.”

I don’t mean to let the last part slip, but Hade is so wrapped up in his confusing, overbearing fury, he doesn’t take note.

He looks at me with fire in his eyes, but I couldn’t care less.

I’m tired of being talked down to like a child, like I don’t stand a chance at winning.

Soon, they will all learn just how sharp my claws can be.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have a ranking to attend.” With that, I turn and strut off, lining up with the rest of my competitors and leaving a blaze of fire behind.

The air turns thick as my nerves zing over my skin with anticipation. We pull sticks to see what order we would perform in, and of course, in typical Nyxi fashion, I pull the shortest stick, meaning I go last. I’ll just have to make a grand last impression.

The Empress enters last, dripping in gaudy red silk and jewels. She doesn’t bother with theatrics or greeting us. She is not here to play nice; we are simply here to impress her.

No pressure .

The Bubble is dead silent as she walks in front of us, a Vanquisher following close behind, holding her gown so it won’t drag across the sandy floor.

As previously observed, it seems anywhere the Empress goes, so does her throne.

She gracefully plops down in her oversized and exuberantly decorated chair that took multiple Vanquishers to drag inside.

With a nod from the Empress, Aeron steps forward to his dedicated space, commencing the ranking.

An Illuminist stands next to him, his eyes cast over Aeron’s entire space, committing his performance to memory to be replayed for all of Fallout and Lunaria later.

Lining the entire outside perimeter of the Bubble, members of Lunaria peer in with anticipation.

Aeron grabs a giant sword off a table. Squaring his shoulders, he signals he’s ready with a small nod, stepping into the center of his area.

A second Vanquisher steps up, a young woman with soft features and smooth brown hair.

Raising her hands in front of her, a blur of blue magic explodes from her palms, surrounding Aeron in seconds.

The sound of snarls and growls echo off the Bubble’s walls as the magic takes shape into massive creatures full of sharp claws and teeth.

Aeron spins, catching the first beast through its neck right before it’s about to sink its teeth into his shoulder.

The beast lets out a scream as Aeron pulls his sword from its limp body before it disintegrates.

Fascinating.

Giving him no time to regroup, another, larger feline beast jumps him from behind, slashing its claws across his back, leaving angry marks behind. He stumbles but pushes through, swinging his sword with immense strength and slicing the head right off the beast.

Two more beasts saunter towards him, and he runs at full speed, aiming for the one on the left.

He dives to the side at the last minute, driving his sword across the under belly of the beast, gutting it.

Using the dead beast as a step, he takes a running jump, pushing himself off it to land on the back of the other before he plunges his sword straight through its skull.

The crowd surrounding the Bubble claps and chants his name as he effortlessly gets up and bows. He beams, waving and smiling at all the women gushing over him.

If only I had a dick to gain me extra votes. Must be nice.

Hudson performs next, walking up to a table full of colored paste, explaining with his adorable lisp to the Empress that he made them using items found in nature.

Swiping globs of paste, he coats his body with a speckled design, blending into the sand below him.

After finishing, he lays flat on the sand and closes his eyes, disappearing completely.

The crowd erupts in claps and coos as he stands back up and shines them his toothless, adorable little grin, then trots away happily.

Tank woos the crowd next by slamming his giant fists repeatedly into a thick tree trunk a Vanquisher dragged in.

In no time, he has the oversized log snapped in two like it was butter.

Jade follows suit, showing off her agility by completing a miniature moving obstacle course blindfolded with perfect precision.

Cartwell chooses his brainpower to show off, attaching some type of cord around his body and then touching it to the Bubble’s force field.

The wire draws the Bubble’s magic down to wrap around Cartwell, creating a force field around him.

He gestures to the Vanquisher to shoot an arrow at him, which bounces right off the forcefield around him, leaving him unharmed.

The rest of my competitors follow suit, showing off their larger than life skills.

Rayah shows off her newly learned throwing star skills.

Yazi knocks a Vanquisher’s magic made arrow out of the air with a spiked club as they are continuously shot at him.

Briar flings her axe through the air, perfectly hitting floating targets, while Sierra stacks three arrows perfectly in the center of one, each splitting the one before it in half .

I have no idea how I’m supposed to follow up any of that, but anger from Hade’s comment lights a spark under my ass as I make my way to my dedicated area. The Empress looks bored, beyond ready to wrap this up so she can go do whatever it is she does.

Dragging my fingertips over the multiple S blades sitting on my table, I clutch the wrapped center of one and take a deep breath. A handful of stagnant targets are staggered in my space to aim at.

I hesitantly look around the small crowd left waiting for me to perform.

Most have dwindled away to find more exciting things to occupy their time.

I catch Hade standing alone to my right against the Bubble’s wall, looking thoroughly bored and pissed off.

A little closer, I spot a nervous looking Winston, who tries to give me a reassuring smile.

My eyes snag on the handkerchief he’s absentmindedly fiddling with, and an idea takes flight in my mind.

Asking the Vanquisher in front of me if I can have a second, he nods, and I jog over to Winston, whispering into his ear. Agreeing, he hands me his handkerchief, adding a quick squeeze to my shoulder before I make my way back.

Committing the targets to memory, I drag the table holding the blades within reaching distance, spacing the blades out to make them easier to grab.

I tie the cloth around my face, creating a makeshift blindfold.

I have just enough blades as there are targets, with one extra to spare if I miss.

I don’t intend on missing, though, and have other plans in mind for the spare.

I hear the Empress growing impatient next to me, and my hand starts to tremble with nerves. “Today, dear .” Her voice carries an edge, and I know it’s now or never.

Taking a deep breath, I nod to the Vanquisher, signaling I’m ready to begin.

Reaching out, I wrap my fingers around the first blade and visualize each target in front of me.

One sits directly to my left, about ten feet away.

There’s one directly behind it, around twenty feet from me, with two more to my right sitting at the same distances.

Lastly, three are placed in front of me about fifteen feet away, but they are stacked on top of each other.

I decide to move from left to right until I’ve worked my way through all the targets. I angle my body to what I think is the right distance to my left for the first close target. Drawing my wrist back, I fling the blade with medium effort.

The sound of my weapon hitting its mark puts a small, satisfied smile on my face, but it vanishes just as fast as I reach over to grab my next blade and aim it at the target behind.

Hearing the clunk of my blade hitting true for the second time, I pluck three more blades from the table.

Adjusting my body to face straight forward now, I fire off three blades back to back, making sure each one is aimed a little higher than the last. Three satisfying thuds ring out, confirming I hit each target.

Two targets remain to my right as I turn my body, praying I calculated the right distance. Swiping two more blades from the table, I let the last two fly, both whooshing before hitting their mark.

Now, for the grand finale. Calming my racing heart, I wrap my delicate fingers around the last blade. I hear whispers around me of people confused as to why I’m holding the extra blade.

Angling my body to face the Bubble’s wall to my left, I draw my wrist back, flinging my arm forward with as much strength as I can muster.

Eagerly ripping my blindfold off, I track the rogue blade through the air, ricocheting harshly off the force field and sailing back through the air in front of me.

Dragging my eyes with it, just as I hoped, Hade still stands tucked away to my right in the exact place I last saw him.

To my surprise, he doesn’t move an inch as the blade flies through the air.

Curving down, it spirals right into the belt holding his sword to his body and rips clean through.

His sword falls to the ground in a loud clunk .

The entire time, Hade doesn’t move an inch.

His eyes remain intently locked on mine without even bothering to check if I’ve injured him.

I can’t tell if he truly fears nothing in life or is lacking brain cells.

I don’t allow the festering thought that he might fully trust me to sink its roots into my fragile heart.

That is not a blow I could survive just yet.

A feral smile takes over my face as I blow him a kiss and saunter off to Winston to take me back to my room. Cheers erupt around the perimeter of the Bubble, and I almost think I hear a chuckle behind me as I skip out and back to the castle.