“Oh no,” she says, her smile sharp. “Not the neat little answer Calista must have given him. Not some random attack on her territories that no one had cared about for centuries. I mean therealreasonhis village was attacked that day.”
She circles us slowly, her narrowed eyes drinking in Kaelzar’s silence as he fights through the pain, the chains grinding into his skin. Her dragon sends another jolt of energy through me the moment it senses my control returning, and my muscles seize once more.
“You see,” she says. “Zoya’s lands border Calista’s monster-infested forests. And when it became clear that the Witch Goddess had finally found a Shadeblood capable of wielding magic strong enough to rival the God of Night and Stars himself, Zoya knew what would come next. Calista would send her bred army across the border. Everyone in Elysium knew she lived for one purpose alone—to take revenge on the gods who cast her out after she killed her husband.”
Liona shrugs. “Zoya couldn’t allow it. So she devised a plan to destroy Kaelzar before he ever reached her gates. Through her spies, she learned that Kaelzar had been ordered to leave his family and friends behind to serve Calista. So she struck where it would hurt most, hoping to wound them just enough to make him defy her orders and stay.”
Liona pauses. Lets it settle. Watches the chains grind deeper into his flesh and smiles. There’s calculation behind her grin, a predator’s awareness that the crowd is listening.
Then it hits me. It’s not just me she’s after. Every word she spews, every glance she throws toward the stands, it’s all for them. The spectators here and the thousands watching through the Divinity Gazes. She’s not trying to break me because she hates me, she’s trying to take what I have. The crowd’s favor. She must believe that if she can drag me through the dirt in front of all of Calcatra, she won't just win this challenge, she'll steal all my followers once I'm out of her way.
“But things turned out even better,” she continues, as her Godbeast sends another current of magic through me, “when that attack made him realize his true feelings for that unfortunate girl. Calista’s fiercest warrior, reduced to a lovesick fool, no longer driven by the desire to please his Goddess.”
Liona crouches. “So Calista gave Kaelzar a choice: bow and take the chains or watch the girl die screaming.” A beat of silence. “He chose the chains,” Liona finishes, her eyes gleaming as she savorsKaelzar’s reaction, the ferocity with which his chains rip at him. “Your mighty Godbeast. Your protector. He chose slavery over love lost.” She leans closer. “So tell me, Raylane, how does it feel, knowing he once groveled at someone else’s feet?”
She wants me and the audience to believe Kaelzar isn’t trustworthy, that he’d eventually betray me just as he did Mia. But that’s not what I hear. Her words cast the story in a very different light—one of love and sacrifice, not of betrayal and blind loyalty to Calista. He chose to keep Mia alive, giving up any chance at his own happiness by taking the chains Calista offered to spare her from torture and death.
Kaelzar’s roar erupts, feral and broken, the storm finally breaking. Shadows burst from him, crashing into the dragon’s side. The chains over his torso pulse, and he screams as blood pools beneath him.
The dragon reels back, which buys me just enough time to regain control of my body.
I drag in a breath like it’s my first, then snap the whip before my conscience can stop me, before it can remind me of the promise I once made not to harm. Veins of decay surge forward in jagged streaks toward Liona and her Godbeast.
“He gave up his life, his freedom. For her!” Liona shrieks, scrambling back from the creeping rot. “Do you really think he’ll choose you, Raylane, when Mia’s back in his arms?—”
Her scream turns into a screech as one of my decay tendrils slashes her ankle. I grit my teeth and force myself upright.
Liona’s words are meant to break us both, but I won’t let them. She might know some of the history, but not all. Mia is gone, killed by Calista in the most gruesome way.
Before I can send another surge of decay, the dragon lunges, its teeth bared. The ground cracks beneath its weight, shards of earth flying.
I barely have time to react before it’s nearly on me, moving with terrifying speed.
Kaelzar drags himself forward, blocking its path. Shadows peel up from the ground, coalescing into jagged spikes that crash against the dragon’s body. The impact ripples through the arena, a thunderclapof power.
But Kaelzar falters.
The chains across his chest tighten more, and his summoned shadows flicker, their edges dulling.
The dragon seizes the moment, clamping its jaws down on Kaelzar’s shoulder, dangerously close to his throat. A deep, guttural growl escapes him, and blood surges from the wound in a heavy flow, darkening the earth beneath him in seconds.
My heart twists. “Stop!” I shout, my voice cracking with desperation.
But Liona only presses her advantage. Water swirls around her hands, then crashes toward me in a violent wave.
It knocks me flat, icy shock stealing the breath from my lungs. Kaelzar roars in defiance, casting shadows to shield me, but his frame shakes with the effort.
Guilt and rage war inside me. My fists clench as Decay magic simmers beneath my skin, begging to be released. I don’t want this, I don’t want to lose control and let it run rampant, but Liona isn’t stopping.
She sends another wave, this one aimed at Kaelzar.
The dragon is still latched onto him, sparking with electricity. Kaelzar’s body spasms, back arching violently, his chest exposed and torn. Deep gashes line his torso, fresh and brutal, carved by the grinding of enchanted chains.
And yet… even in agony, he stretches out flickering tendrils of shadow to shield me.
I can’t let him suffer like this. I can’t let him die trying to protect me.
Liona meant to drive a wedge between us, but she’s only made me realize that watching my Godbeast suffer is the one thing powerful enough to eclipse my guilt. The part of me that once hesitated to harm withers away, leaving only a primal need to protect him.
