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“He’ll be fine.” Blaze came up to me after he polished his blade. “Iokul always needs some meditating time when he faces a formidable opponent.”
Just then, Iokul stalked in with a confident smile.
He walked directly to me and brushed a kiss over my scaled lips. “Wish me luck, honey.”
“Cross my heart,” I said. “And may all our strength be yours.”
I did not stay behind in the chamber as the princes had insisted. It didn’t matter.
The duel was only a prelude to an all-out war.
My monsters marched with me to the arena. We no longer had great numbers after the war with the Archangel Gabriel, his witch, and the wolves. The conflict with the demons and the hunters had also reduced some of our numbers.
When we arrived at the destination, I noticed that all of the remaining clans of the City of Nine had come.We used to have nine clans. After the Wickedest Witch’s coven and the wolf shifters left, the dominant ones were vampires and a gang of mixed species, who were former criminals and militants.
I swept my gaze over the vampires onthe south side of the spectator seats covered by green moss. Desdemona and Jasmine were missing in their rank. The Vampire Lord could never leave his tower, and the Vampire Princess was nowhere to be found.
Kruid cannibals snarled on the eastern edge of the arena. They had no allies, though they’d served Akem when he’d been around. To Kruids, everyone was meat.
So far, no clan charged the other clan or the new aliens.
They’d wait until the duel was over.
They gave me a wary look, not expecting me to mingle with the dragon men. I usually minded my own business in the jungle while the clans fought over the territory in the City of Nine.
The hunters from theFallen Star—only seven of them left now—stared at me with hunger and anger. Hunger because they still wanted to bring my heads to my grandfather to claim the inheritance toDanaenyth dynasty; anger because the demons had stripped their right to duel.
I was sure they’d strike at the end of the combat.
Those hunters never gave up their prey, and they had for sure marked me as one.
The demon horde also fixed their glare on me with hatred, as if it was personal. Somehow, I had a feeling that some force from another place and another time was seeing through the demons’ black eyes.
We joined Rai and his scouts and took the corner of thespectatorseats opposite to Elvey and his demon army.
Elvey wore black armor, yet he looked more like a playboy with his tousled lavender hair than a warrior. His gaze landed on my Furies as soon as we entered. Involuntarily, he smiled at me, and I stared back with ice and steel.
My chilly, wintry expression didn’t faze him even a little bit.
I averted my gaze, not wanting to acknowledge him, and scanned the rest of the arena for lurking threats. I needed to focus only on Elvey and the demons, since my two other egos were already patrolling the air.
From their perspective, the sight of the wrecked spaceships clustering and overlaying one another was an eyesore. I returned my attention to the demons.
Elvey leaped into the clearing in the center of the grandiose coliseum, as lithe and predatory as a panther.
“Friends and enemies and scavengers,” he said,his richly masculine voice booming over the field.“We won’t need any more words for a duel like this, so I give you Dragon Prince Iokul and Demon CaptainFomorian. They’ll fight to death for the rights to claim the Fury Queen’s heads andMistress. Winner takes it all, and loser loses his head and more.”
No one cheered, but sneers and snarls echoed in the wind.
As soon as Elvey withdrew, Fomorian entered the ring, carrying only a broad sword. He braced his feet apart, ready and eager to cut down anyone in his path.
Bloodlust clouded hisonyx eyes.
His demon minions cheered and blew a war horn.
Iokul tossed aside his gold-bronze shield and stalked toward the ring, his narrow sword flashing white light.
The dragon men roared his name, drowning out the cheers from the opponent’s side.
