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Chapter 51
Bree
When Bree strodeinto the fighting pit, she could scarcely believe her eyes. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before, and it filled her with a strange sense of dread that she had not felt until that moment. The arena was massive, situated on a large cliff just behind the Keep. There was a massive circle carved deep into the earth, and the edges were marked by bones that had been drilled into the hard soil. On every side, there were rows upon rows of wooden benches. And they were packed full of fae who had come from all over the realm to watch thespectacle.
Their horns were out, too. Which wasfun.
Bree swallowed hard as she gazed at the crowd. They were already jeering and booing and poking fun at a shapeshifter who stood beside a burly-looking male with reddish wings flapping idly behind him. Bree’s stomach turned. That must be one of Midas’s bastards, come to challenge the Prince for thethrone.
Taveon stepped up beside Bree and dropped his voice to a whisper while Rafe stood quietly observing the pit. “That is Anken. He has hated me for years, and now he finally has his chance to do away with me once and for all. That is his shapeshifter, though I know nothing about him. Most likely a Wilde Fae, so he will be vicious, though his form should be no more deadly than afox.”
Anken? Bree swore she’d heard that name somewhere before, but she couldn’t placewhere.
She sized up the competition, shuddering. A fox would be nothing against her wolfish form, and she hated the idea of tearing a practically unarmed shapeshifter to shreds. One who was most likely here against his will, much like she would have been if she and Taveon hadn’t decided that they didn’t hate each other as much as they thought theydid.
“But just because he might be a fox, do not expect he will not put up a fight.” Taveon sucked a sharp breath in through his nose. “Anken is one of the strongest males I have met. His strength will power hisshapeshifter.”
“And yours will power me. As far as I can see, we’re win win overhere.”
But Bree didn’t feel win win. She felt sick. When she’d volunteered to help Taveon, she had been so focused on getting him onto the throne and on doing whatever it took to stop the Tithe that she hadn’t let herself think about what she had to do. And now she had a face to go along withit.
It made her entire heart hurt, especially because this was only thebeginning.
“Come.” Taveon held out a hand, and she slid her fingers through his. Sparks lit up where their skin touched, catching her off guard. She stared at Taveon’s masculine form as they strode into the center of the fighting pit. For not the first time, she could see how the Court had never suspected his identity. He oozed so much strength and raw power that it almost shook Bree to her core. Taveon did not seem to be anything less than the son of the King, a fact that gave her more comfort than she would have expected. With their combined strength running through her veins, surely she would have nothing tofear.
Taveon slowed to a stop in the center of the arena and held Bree’s hand high in the air, their fingers still linked. “I, Prince Taveon, present my champion to you. She will be fighting on my behalf for the crown. Her strength will be linked to my strength, our powers mingling as one. Who dares to challenge me for thecrown?”
Bree gazed up at Taveon, caught off guard by the lyrical sound of his deep voice. His words were like a poem he had been reciting for years. Hell, maybe he had been. This was likely a moment he’d been imagining his entire life, dreaming of the day when he might present himself as the future of therealm.
A strange sensation began to sweep through Bree’s body, starting at the point where the Prince’s skin touched hers. It started out as a light tingling before building into a full-out avalanche of light and sound. Her mind filled with a million tiny memories. Prince Taveon as a child. Prince Taveon striding through the castle, his gate purposeful and strong. And Prince Taveon, staring at Bree through his eyes, his heart filling with a strange kindof—
Bree blinked, coming back into the here and now. Taveon met her eyes, and she felt herself gasp aloud. Did he know what she had just seen and felt? And had he seen the same from her? So many of his thoughts and emotions were now churning through her. They were a jumble, and she was only able to pick out a few that made sense. But that one...that one where he was gazing at her. It was as clear as a brand newday.
“Open yourself up more,” he whisperedgently.
But she felt crushed under the weight of all those thoughts and memories. And the realization of exactly what he felt forher.
“I can’t.” She quickly shook her head. “I took in a lot. It will beenough.”
“I feel you,” he said. “I feel what is in yourheart.”
Tears sprang into her eyes as her body began to shudder. She did not know why this was making her react so intensely. She didn’t know why she felt as though her heart might explode from the fierceness of what was now flowing between them. It scared her how close she felt to him now, the Dark Fae she’d hated with the fire of a million burningsuns.
She felt as if she could truly see into his mind, and he intohers.
Slowly, she pulled her hand out of his grip and stepped back. That was enough. She had let his strength in. It would get her through thisfight.
Anken strode forward with his champion, but he did not introduce him by name. Not particularly shocking to Bree. These Dark Fae did not see their underlings as actual living beings but as vessels to be used and discarded like plastic wrapping. Up close, the shapeshifter looked far more dangerous than he had appeared before, particularly now that his body appeared to shimmer with the unrelenting power of Anken’s red-winged faeenergy.
In her mind, she felt something soft and gentle push up against an invisible barrier she’d tried to erect between her mind and all of Taveon’s tumbling thoughts. “Do not worry. You are far fiercer,Bree.”
But the shapeshifter champion didn’t seem to think so. He was sneering at Bree. Hell, he was practicallylaughing.
After the introduction, he strode toward her with a puffed-out chest, oozing with testosterone. “Prince Taveon brings a mortal female to battle against me? You are donefor.”
And with that, the champion spun on his heels to take his place on the other side of the fighting pit. Bree narrowed her eyes at his bulky retreating back. Oh, he’d done it now. Underestimating Bree would be the last mistake this shapeshifter would evermake.
But still...a tiny voice whispered in the back of her mind. Hers, not Taveon’s. She did not want to kill him, even as she placed her feet on the red mark and bent her knees to prepare for theirbattle.
