Page 52 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Emelyn

I lay awake tossing and turning all night, getting little to no sleep. Crow’s shadows did their best to soothe me, but it didn’t take long for the restlessness to come back.

Kade was quiet when he came to my room today to get me for my fight. He handled me gently, as if giving me a silent apology. I did my best to hide the emotions from his rejection from my eyes anytime he glanced over at me on our walk down to the ring.

Maybe he was right. Maybe I would have regretted sleeping with my enemy when the sun rose. But I didn’t have time to think about it as I looked forward to the double doors opening to the large chamber of a room where patrons cheered from their balconies as I walked in with Kade next to me.

The grand room seemed different today—heavier

A chilling and unsettling sensation gripped me as though a shroud of darkness hung in the air, thick and oppressive, even though the room was well-lit with the fire dancing along the walls and upper levels.

I shook it off. After a night of drinking and little sleep, it was probably just my nerves getting to me.

The emperor stood close by his throne with Valla and a woman that I didn’t recognize on either side of him.

I hadn’t seen her at any of the battles before this one.

I noticed Kade glance at her in question, too, but there wasn’t much I could ask him about it right now as I took my place in the fighting ring.

The royal audience that filled the balconies surrounding the ring consisted of nobles and dignitaries from near and far, all dressed in garments befitting the occasion.

Their collective voices resonated through the palace, cheering for the impending battle.

A heady mix of perfumes, incense, and the rustling of fine fabrics filled the air.

The room slowly settled once I had taken my place in the ring, falling into a hushed anticipation of what was to come.

The emperor sat on his throne, and my brow furrowed. He had always announced who would fight me in the ring. I saw Valla stand, and my heart sank into the pits of my stomach as she grinned at me wickedly.

I was an excellent fighter, but even I questioned if I could defeat Valla without my bending. She played by her own rules, she always had, and I doubted that had changed about her over the last century.

“The Peacebringer shall fight . . . Kade Corvus, my dear brother, the mighty Prince of Ember, trained by some of the world’s greatest assassins.

It shall be quite the spectacle for all to see.

” She spoke with a smile. I looked over to Kade, and to everyone else, he wore the princely mask of stone, but I noticed the slightest roundness to his eyes after Valla’s announcement.

He hadn’t known . . .

I watched him move to his father, and they had a minor exchange of words before he looked over to me, and I knew there was no getting out of it.

My emotions warred in my chest. I truly didn’t know what he was capable of.

Excitement skated down my spine at the thought of defeating him in front of his entire empire after all the bullshit he had put me through, but the another part of me didn’t know what that would mean for him if I did.

I stood taller as he moved toward the ring and took off his nice jacket and unbuttoned his cuffs. He eyed Valla with venom as he passed her and then unbuttoned the top of his dress shirt as he took his stance in the ring on the opposite side of me.

He wagged his head with a grin at my defiance. When he glanced up at me again, I heard his voice call to me.

“Listen to me. I will tell you what I do before I do it. We have to make this look realistic. When I hit you to take you down . . . stay down, Bunny.” He spoke not with his mouth .

. . but to my mind. I tried to hide the shock from my face, but when he grinned at me again, I knew I wasn’t doing a very good job.

“How . . . ?” Even my thoughts sounded quiet.

“I’ll explain everything later. We have to get through this first.” As soon as he finished, he came for me, his movements filled with grace and power.

He threw a punch, expecting me to either take it and go down or make it seem like I was, but I didn’t do either.

I met his fist with my own, filled with rage.

The collision created shockwaves of power that rippled through the throne room.

I heard a crack from our bones breaking.

“Bunny . . .” He pulled back, giving me a warning look as if begging me not to do this.

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Prince.” I circled him. My movements were swift and agile. The air seemed charged with anticipation, and my senses heightened as I noticed a shift in him, too. He wasn’t playing anymore either.

“If this is about last night, this is not the time or place,” he tried again, but there was no stopping it.

“I think this is the perfect time,” I hissed back, unsure if it was mind to mind or from my lips as I went for him again.

My blood pumped faster—harder through me, as each blow was a testament to our training and skill.

The exhilaration of battle coursed through my veins.

Sweat beaded my brow as I readied for the next move.

“Emelyn.” His voice rang through my head like a plea.

We grappled and dodged, moving with a fluidity that was almost otherworldly. The crowd’s cheers and gasps of awe spurred me on, adding to the intensity of the fight and my frustrations.

The battle unfolded in a flurry of punches, kicks, and blindingly fast strikes.

Kade dodged my moves, only allowing me to get a few hits in.

As we continued, my hits on him increased.

His dodging had slowed down intentionally.

It was at that moment that I realized what he was up to.

He was going to submit. He was going to let me win to stop the fight.

The next punch that I landed knocked his head to the side, and he fell to the ground.

“Stay down . . . Prince.” I repeated his words from earlier mockingly as I wiped the tang of blood from my lips. I swore I heard his chuckle echo off the walls of my mind.

“You never make things easy, do you, Bunny?”

I bent at the waist to catch my breath, but I couldn’t hide my grin as he held his side and stood defeated in front of his empire.

We both stood as the crowd cheered. It had been the most entertainment they had ever gotten out of me in all the weeks I had been here. Kade and I both moved to the side of the ring, readying to leave, just like we had done any other night, but his father stood.

“We have one more surprise,” the emperor shouted, and the room quieted.

“The Peacebringer will fight another.” Kade and I shared a look.

My hand pulsed with pain as my adrenaline had subsided.

I was sure it was broken, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t fight through.

Kade nodded back toward the ring and moved to his normal spot as I bounced on my heels, readying for whatever came next.

But my heart sank at the man I saw being dragged into the room in chains.

Not just a man—a Sky Elf.

His onyx-feathered wings flared slightly as soldiers moved him toward the ring. They threw him down, and he stayed on his knees before me. He looked up at me with sorrow-filled eyes.

“No,” I murmured. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t fight him. Flashes of Ace crossed my mind, my father, and Hallan from when I was a child. The history I had with their kind. I didn’t want to do this. My eyes burned, and I had to swallow the lump forming in my throat.

“Breathe, Eme, knock him out like you did all the others. It will be alright.” Kade’s words whispered across my mind, making me take a deep, calming breath.

The Sky Elf didn’t rise. He signed an apology to me before he turned his head toward Valos and said, “I’d rather fall than fight the one person who will save us all.

” He spoke surely, letting Valos know he would be defeated one day.

The crowd gasped at his open disrespect.

I glanced over to Valos with eyes filled with venom, furious at all the damage he had caused to their kind—my friends, my family.

Yet, he only smirked wickedly at me while casually sitting on his throne. His chin rested in his hand as he tapped a single finger against his temple.

Suddenly, rage poured into me. An unnatural icy wrath coursed through my veins, rooting me where I stood, overtaking every part of me.

But I didn’t direct it at the man who was smiling at me from his throne.

My gaze slowly shifted to the Sky Elf, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was my enemy.

My mind shifted, remembering the all-consuming vengeance I wanted from their kind for killing my father.

For Hallan pushing that blade through his chest. My mother . . .

The plague of violence that they had brought when the war began over a century ago.

There would never be peace as long as they lived.

The elf on his knees before me in his act of submission was a liar. It was a trick. They would never submit until the world was theirs, so I moved before he had the chance to.