Page 97 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire

“You’re nothing here.”

I clutched my belly, the pain unbearable. I was coughing and retching, and fresh tears welled in my eyes with every hit. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I grasped at the armor over my chest, sucking any air I could get, wheezing for them to stop, but my words barely came as a whisper, and the cloth was tightening around my face. My attackers were closing in. The walls were closing in, the Katurium was going to fall, Jules was being taken, the panic was taking over me….

I was hauled to my feet, my ears roaring. My cloak fell back over my shoulders. The arena blearily came into focus. Two of my opponents grabbed my arms, holding them out wide, pushing my armor up, and leaving my belly exposed.

The Ka Kormac soturion stepped in front of me, rubbing his hands together, a hungry look in his eyes I’d seen before from the other wolves. He was pure predator, and I was the prey.

Bells were ringing, and my vision blurred. He formed a fist, blowing on his knuckles, and swung his arm back.

Gods! He wasn’t the best strategist, but one punch from his fist was going to destroy me.

The ringing grew louder, and there were shouts pounding through my ears. I struggled against the soturi holding me, writhing desperately to be free. I had to escape, to get away. I tried to yell. There was a roaring sound now.

The soturion laughed, taking off at a run. Tani watched, vengeance dancing in her dark eyes.

“STOP!”

The words I’d been trying to scream, to shout at the top of my lungs, came at last. But not from me.

Rhyan.

“It’s time!”

The soturion’s fist headed for my stomach. My vision blurred, but the hit never came. Rhyan shot forward, leaping into the circle. He intercepted the punch and pulled the soturion away.

“It’s time!” he yelled again. “Turion! Call it off! Now!”

“Get out of there, Hart,” Dairen yelled. “Apprentices don’t go into novice circles.”

Rhyan’s arms were around the soturion from Ka Kormac. He lifted him up, turned away from me, and tossed him forward. His aura exploded, a storm of ice and freezing cold.

Dairen’s hair blew back from the force, but he only sneered in response, stalking toward us. “Can’t you hear the bells, or do you all need your ears checked?”

“You didn’t call time,” said the soturion from Damara, looking uncomfortably between Dairen and Rhyan.

The two soturi holding my arms immediately dropped them. Tani was glaring, her arms across her chest. She pouted and kicked at the grass beneath her feet.

I stumbled backward, my legs folding in half. I started to sink to the ground, my injuries beginning to catch up to me. Gods. Everything hurt. Everything.

Rhyan moved forward, heading for me. Then he stopped suddenly, turning his attention back to Dairen. All at once, he seemed to release the energy from his aura. The cold vanished, the wind stopped. His power was so suddenly turned off, I’d wondered if I’d imagined the whole thing.

“You going to let me out of here?” Rhyan asked. He sounded bored, and impatient. But there was a distinct edge to his voice—one that reminded me he was raised to be high lord.

“Do I look like a mage?” Dairen asked. “The hell is wrong with you, Hart? Jumping in after her? Did you think we did things here like your father? Did you think we were going to let her die?”

Rhyan’s jaw clenched, and I realized that was exactly what he’d thought. Or that I was so weak and powerless I was doomed anyway. Neither possibility felt comforting in that moment.

“No,” Dairen said. “You want to jump in here like an idiot, you can wait in here like one until we recant the spell. Have a Godsdammed seat if you want. Or stand. But you’ll wait in there like a novice if you want to act like one.”

The Ka Kormac soturion snickered at this while the others glanced back at me, sneers and looks of derision all over their faces.

My knees buckled. I wanted to sit down desperately. And cry.

When Dairen turned away, returning to the center of the field to address the other novices, Rhyan made his way to my side.

All eyes were on me. And him.

“You all right?” he whispered.