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Chapter Twenty-Five

RUNA

My arms shook from fear and exhaustion. Pain seared my injured shoulder.

The duskcat I faced was feline—ish. Its pointed ears pressed back against his blocky head.

Black fur stood up in a threatening spike down its spine.

Canines the size of my forearm protruded from its snarling lips.

Green poison dripped from its razor-sharp whiskers.

At the tip of its club-like tail was an assortment of spikes.

As I retreated, it advanced. My feet stumbled over something, and I nearly went down. The beast snapped, and I swung my sword, managing to slice its muzzle. It reared back, pawing its nose. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the thing that tripped me. One of my opponent’s severed legs.

Bile painted the base of my tongue. Monster Kitty had caught the bastard the moment we’d fallen. Snatched him right out of the air. While I’d run for my life, the creature juggled the male, playing with its prey before ripping him apart.

A similar fate awaited me.

Curse Thorne and his stupid plan. We’d foolishly hung all our hopes on a mysterious shifter and Victor’s intel.

Intel he’d gathered from criminals, assassins, and venom addicts.

Now, it was too late to pivot. Our alliance was void.

I had little doubt the selfish vampire lord would murder us all to gain his freedom—despite the incredible night we spent together.

From span-one, he’d made it clear all he cared about was himself.

Satisfaction flooded me that my death would strand him in Carcerem for eternity.

Not that there was any guarantee he would survive.

I prayed one of my brothers would be the winner. Both were skilled fighters even without their gifts. If even one of them survived, perhaps my death would have meant something.

Arching his spine, Monster Kitty whipped out a massive paw, attempting to slice me in half. I twisted, flipped backward, and struck out with my sword. Two of the duskcat’s claws landed in the sand, and the creature yowled, recoiling.

Ha! Score one for the chew toy. When Monster Kitty hesitated to attack, hope flickered inside of me. I bared my teeth, snarling, “That’s right, furball. There’s a lot more where that came from.”

My feline nemesis glanced over my head with wide, dilated eyes. Hissing a screech of fury, the creature darted away.

One little injury and the bastard ran for his life.

“Go ahead, you hairball-hacking prick. Run away!” I shouted.

Hot, acrid wind blasted the back of my head, blowing purple tendrils over my shoulders.

Icy terror froze me in place.

Gulp . My harsh swallow echoed over the arena’s magical sound amplifier. Shallow breaths rattled my chest, and I forced my feet to shuffle a circle in the sand.

Behind me, I faced a pair of large nostrils. Those nostrils rested above a terrifying maw filled with bone-crushing teeth. The teeth were set into a reptilian muzzle capable of swallowing me in one bite. Above the nostrils were a set of serpentine eyes, clouded white with the king’s influence.

Idris’s deep chuckle reached my ears just before the dragon reared back. At the base of its throat, a fiery light glowed. The reach of its flames would extend far beyond Drazen’s. I’d never outrun the blast. There was no escape.

Fine then. If I was about to die, I wasn’t going out as a coward.

I raised my chin and thumped the hilt of my sword against my breast, shouting, “Long live the rebellion. Down with the false king!”

The dragon opened its mouth. Flames flicked from the depths of his throat. The creature’s hot breath heated my flesh.

I closed my eyes.

Goodbye, my brothers.

Hard muscle slammed into my body. Oxygen exploded from my lungs. The world spun, and I flew several feet before hitting the ground.

I blinked sand from my vision. Sucked a desperate breath. Flames rained down on my savior in a deluge. Blasting him where I’d been seconds ago.

“Victor,” I gasped.

The vampire stood beneath the full force of the dragon’s flames. Body braced. Hands fisted.

Horror washed through me.

“No,” I cried. Despite the unbearable heat, I didn’t dare look away, raising my hand to shield my vision.

Instead of collapsing, he held steady beneath the dragon’s fiery assault. His muscular form was an immovable boulder in a raging river. His clothing incinerated in an instant, turning to ash, exposing his body. Rather than blister, Custodis’s skin fractured like broken ice across a frozen pond.

I gaped at the sight. What was happening?

Blinding light shone through the cracks in his exposed flesh, and his golden eyes glowed with a fiery brilliance.

Curling strands of silver hair whirled around his head.

The effect made him appear like some avenging god.

Splaying his hands, Custodis arched his back, tipped his face to the sky, and roared at the sun.

Energy exploded.

The wave slammed into me, and the force threatened to shatter my bones. Every object, every creature, every person in the immediate vicinity hit the ground. My frantic pulse pounded in my ringing head. There was no possible way he’d survived that blast. How could this happen?

I coughed debris from my throat and peered through a cloud of dust. Standing at the center of the blast circle was Custodis.

Gone was the tightly wound vampire lord. In his place stood a fierce golden warrior. He was like some imposing mystical entity, finally released from an eternity in prison. Formidable. Commanding.

Ready for war.

Energy electrified the atmosphere. Every inch of his flawless body glowed with an eternal light.

A divine light.

Silence reigned. Nothing stirred. Even the air seemed afraid to move.

Then, slowly, one by one, voices rang out.

“It’s him.”

“Our king has risen.”

“The chosen one.”

“The prophecy is true.”

Those low murmurs started to chatter like a buzz of insects.

I gawked at my vampire. No, I refused to believe it. The male I’d captured, fought beside, argued with, slept with, couldn’t be divine. This was Idris’s work. A fictional spectacle meant to entertain the masses.

Seeming unaffected by the chaos surrounding him, Victor peered back at the roaring spectators. His expression was an emotionless void. Lord Custodis had checked out. Who remained was a mystery.

“Victor?” My voice emerged a rasping croak.

His glowing gaze slid to my sprawled form, and he scanned my body with little recognition.

“Victor,” I tried again. “It’s Runa. Are you okay?”

Gah! What a stupid question. He was definitely not okay.

His eyes darted to something behind me, then narrowed. I turned as well.

Slicing through the mayhem, one lone figure dashed across the pit, dodging dazed, unmoving obstacles.

“Now, you spell-casting bastards! Do it now!” Thorne shouted at the stands, sprinting past both myself, then Custodis, only to leap onto the dragon’s back.

Reality sliced through the confusion in my foggy brain. We were still in a pit filled with deadly monsters. And Thorne had clearly lost his mind.

I lurched to my feet. “Thorne? What… How… Why?”

Whipping the enchanted key from his tunic, the shifter slammed it into the lock on the dragon’s collar. The beast’s chain dropped into the sand with a metallic chink .

And now the beast was free.

I was alive. Victor exploded. And Thorne straddled a dragon.

My brain threatened to fracture. Shock emerged from my throat on a screech. “Thorne, you idiot! What are you doing?”

“Hurry! Do it now!” Thorne bellowed again, dropping to the ground.

Do what now?

Voices screamed from the stands. I pressed a hand to my throbbing forehead, glancing around the arena.

What had to be a dozen figures dressed in dark robes sprinted into the walkways.

Spread throughout the space, they raised their hands, their deep voices chanting. Purple light glowed in their palms .

Were they the ones Thorne kept shouting at?

By the fates, this was all too much.

As Thorne sprinted past me again, I snagged his arm in a death grip.

“Dammit, tell me what’s happening!” I snarled.

“Told you I had a connection waiting for us on the outside.” He offered me one of his dazzling smiles. “Look.”

Around us, the shield Idris had put in place to protect the audience and contain his prisoners began to spark and fizzle. Raelynn’s scream erupted from the royal pavilion. My sister clawed at her skull, convulsing. Idris caught her before she could fall, barking orders to his men.

“They’re breaking the containment spell,” I gasped.

Thorne smirked. “That’s not all, sweetheart.”

The torque around my neck heated, then dropped to the ground, as well as every other torque in the place.

Yet another explosion rocked my world, and I wobbled, peering at the sky. The purple haze had vanished. They’d done it. They’d broken the shield.

“Runa.” Thorne captured my attention, commanding, “Time to do your part.”

“What?” I stared back, still reeling.

“Get Kronk. Stick to the plan!”

“Kronk?”

“Here,” my brother grunted, appearing beside me. He planted his hands on his thighs, panting as though he’d run a great distance.

“Torques are off, shields down,” Drazen shouted, racing to join us, puffing smoke. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Right.” I rubbed my blurry eyes.

“Hurry. We don’t have much time.” Thorne sprinted back to the dragon, where he proceeded to flap his arms. “Fly, you big ugly bastard. You’re free. Fly!”

Thorne was rescuing the dragon. The one who, moments ago, tried to roast me. In what world did this make sense? None. I was definitely concussed. Possibly brain damaged.

Without warning, the mystical creature turned a circle, and we stumbled back. Gaze clear of Idris’s influence, the beast sliced us a dark glare, then turned to face the pavilion. The shield was gone, the royals vulnerable. People screamed. Those seated closest to their king scattered.

Idris peered up into the face of the beast he’d dared to imprison and paled. Flames blasted the royal pavilion, the dragon unloading a stream of fire directly at the king.

And just like that, the dragon became my favorite monster of all time.

Flames surrounded the golden bubble Idris succeeded in forming around him and Raelynn while his guard burned to a crisp.

Once the beast had run out of breath, all that remained of the royal pavilion was a charred circle of smoking ash.

Idris and his golden bubble somehow managed to survive the blast.

Pity.

After snorting a puff of smoke from its nostrils, the dragon extended its massive wings and leaped into the sky, sending a plume of sand whipping around us. I was really beginning to hate sand.

Drazen grabbed my face. “Diversion, Runa.”

Right. Drawing power up from my core, I waved my glowing palms, creating a swarm of widow wasps, then doubled, then quadrupled its size.

Again. And again. I swirled my arms in sweeping circles, twisting my creation into a swirling cyclone.

It spun around us, then I pushed my stinging tornado outward into the pit, then further into the stands.

Both the remaining spectators and Idris’s creatures ran screaming from the deadly cloud.

With my part finished, Kronk drove his fist into the ground.

The place where the dragon once sat shifted.

Large mounds of sand slid to the outside of the pit.

Just as Victor promised, a large grate came into view.

Thorne raced over, easily disabling the enchanted lock with his key, and Kronk heaved open the heavy gate.

“Let’s go.” Drazen held out his hand to me.

I shook my head. “What about Victor?”

I glanced over to where I’d last seen the big glowing…whatever he was.

Victor stood before the king. Fists clenched. Murder in his shimmering eyes. Idris glared back at him from the charred remains of his pavilion. A ball of energy swirled in his palm.

Thorne raced to Victor’s side. “My king. We must go. This isn’t the time.”

Victor’s head swiveled in an eerie fashion. His golden gaze took me in before locking on the handprint he’d left on my throat. I swallowed a lump of apprehension.

Wrestling with my fear, I held out my hand to him. “Come with us. With… me . Please.”

Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode in my direction. Still glowing. Still naked. Before I could utter a yelp of objection, he swooped me up in his arms and leaped through the grate into the darkness.