Page 20

ELI

As I walked to the field, the gray clouds above seemed to lower.

No doubt a fancy party trick from the God of the Underworld.

I looked away from the tiny pocket of false sun in the sky with irritation and focused on steeling my nerves.

I’d been in battles and fights more times than I could count, and I tried to tell myself I was going to win.

Good always won, but this time it was different.

I was at war with myself and I hadn’t even made it to the thirty armored men on the field yet.

I needed to kill Anna. I knew it. It was the right thing to do and could end up saving a lot of people, but she was Cal’s sister.

I knew details about her that she didn’t even know that I knew.

As much as it was hurting me to have to do it, I needed to remember that if she killed me first, she would take the rest of her powers and hurt Cal and Mendax.

I couldn’t let harm come to either of them and the only way to prevent it was to kill Anna first and figure out how to get my ass out of this place.

I didn’t know what would happen after she died, and I couldn’t risk it.

I had to get out of here. After the battle was over, if I made it, I would ask Cal to reach out to her father.

I knew at one point he had been able to come here; I knew he and the Fates would find a way to get the pendant out of here, and hopefully I could go to the Elysian Fields with the rest of my people.

One last deep breath, and I was soon in my place on the field with the others.

It was a sea of darkly armored figures, all atop their giant black horses—except for me of course.

It was foolish, and really, I had absolutely no reason to believe that this could work and that Thistle could handle it other than a gut feeling that she was the best choice.

I’d yet to ignore my intuition and I wasn’t about to start now.

I just hoped I could be the rider she needed.

It was going to be incredibly dangerous for Thistle out here too.

Even though my armor was the same as everyone else’s, the brown floricorn may as well have been a bull’s-eye.

Everyone knew it was me atop the little mini unicorn.

Still, I held my head high, not letting any of them sense my fear as we confidently rode onto the field and took our place.

The riders had been split down the middle, facing each other.

The tension around me was suffocating, the scent of desperation and malice in the air.

Every one of us was aware we only had one chance to keep our souls alive.

Even I felt a little menacing with the thought.

No second chances and no recovery. This wasn’t like a regular battle—if you faltered, you were gone forever; no one would know you had ever existed.

The person next to me coughed, adjusting themselves on their horse.

Not her, I made a mental note. I scanned the crowd searching for a smaller figure and found none.

I could only see the people on the other side of the field that faced me; she could be behind me.

She could be next to me. My eyes reluctantly found the figure on the other side of us.

They looked huge. Everyone did. Unfortunately, this close to the ground, everyone looked impossibly large.

After Kaohs had checked in with me, recommending I take another horse, the judge came to inform me that if I wanted to ride the unicorn in the match, I had to do so without tying my legs around her neck as that could help me remain in the saddle, hence giving me an advantage over the other players.

I almost choked with frustration, but in the end I was able to tie two makeshift stirrup loops that were long enough for my legs to fit inside of them.

My knees were practically up to my elbows now, but thankfully, I could get out of them much faster should I need to.

After being dragged around the practice arena, it seemed like a more logical idea anyway.

Thistle shifted under me. I could feel her anxiousness.

I couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling right now, with all of these giant stallions next to her.

She was the only female and the only unicorn.

“You’ve got this. They laugh because they underestimate you, but not me, girl.

” She shifted again. “Not me. I know what you are capable of. We have the advantage, not the other way around. I’ll follow your lead.

Do what you’re comfortable with, and I’ll jump in when needed, okay?

This is your chance to get back at those fuckers for hurting you.

I won’t let them hurt you anymore, okay?

I’m here, girl,” I sang to her as I patted her neck.

Both Thistle and I jumped at a loud horn to our left.

Kaohs stood in front of a fairly large crowd, talking and waving in our direction, none of whom we could hear this far away.

I spotted Walter sitting next to Eletha.

I could see the worry etching lines in her face from the field as she feared for her sister.

My thoughts darted to Tarani, my own sister.

I missed her more than Cal if that was possible.

There wasn’t a lot I wouldn’t have traded to get to see her one last time.

To tell her how much I love her and how proud I am of her.

One more reason to get out of this place and get to the Elysian Fields.

That would be her final resting place, along with the rest of my family, and I longed to see them again—well, her more than them.

I felt a stir amongst the men around me. Several adjusted to get a better grip on their reins.

It was about to begin.

Fuck. I needed to find out which one was Anna.

Logically, I knew it didn’t matter, if I was to win this, they all would have to die regardless of who was who or where she was.

I told myself it was because she would be gunning for me the hardest and I needed to be prepared.

I had the stupid urge to keep her away from the others, to keep her safe.

No, let them do it, I thought cowardly. This would all be much easier if I didn’t have to kill her.

A person entered each row and began placing the small box containing the red skeleton key in its designated spot, the crook in the saddle where the horn would normally have been.

When the younger-looking man came to me, he did me the honor of not laughing while he installed the small treasure-chest-type box on the black leather saddle.

I recognized him as a stable boy from the barn.

He patted Thistle and she leaned into him, which was incredibly surprising. She didn’t like many people. “Aim low and don’t remove your key until you have their helmet off,” he said, so low I almost hadn’t realized he was talking.

“Thanks.” I nodded.

The boy looked around to see that no one was paying him any mind.

“They look fast, but they have weak legs and cannot cut corners sharply. Also, some of the riders give their horses thorn blossoms,” he whispered conspiratorially as though he’d just given me the secret to winning.

When I stared at him blankly, he pretended to adjust the box again.

“Thorn blossoms will numb the horses from feeling pain. That means unless you have a dragon to knock them down, you need to aim at knocking the riders off, not the other way around. The horses that have been dosed will not have good stamina though.” He nodded and moved on to the horse next to us, quickly finishing and moving down the row.

Fuck. That had been my plan. Thistle’s horn was the perfect height to take a good stab at the horses, forcing the rider to fall off; then I would then stab them with the red key on the way down without much struggle.

If the horses couldn’t feel pain, that wasn’t going to work.

What were we going to do now? I couldn’t even reach the riders on their horses.

How was I going to kill them before they got to me?

All they had to do was bend down and they could knock me off with ease .

Okay, this would be fine. It had to be.

The leather saddle creaked as I turned to look at the rows of horses and armored riders behind me.

Dammit, where was she? A waving of arms at the side caught my attention.

Kaohs had raised two crimson flags into the air.

A high-pitched noise sounded as fiery red streams of light shot forth from each flagpole and into the gray sky. The game had started.