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I survived, but I didn’t win.
Fucking end her, brother. I feel the change in the air.Cade’s voice seared into my mind as I took my weapons back from the guards, and I glanced up to find him and Rush standing side by side at the edge of the pit. Even behind the glamor, I saw them, and I realized this had been one of Kana’s talents.
She’d always seen Rush, even when he was invisible to the others.
Her magic truly lived in me, and I felt a surge of power and possibility as the guards stepped back for the final round.
Now I had the sword I’d wanted just moments before, and Merden’s blood magic was running thin. My muscles felt like steel bands and springs as I raced and leaped at her, slicing across her shoulder as I sailed over her head. She shrieked with rage, flinging a vortex of red magic at me.
I slashed them apart with my knives, whipping the liquid magic into chaos instead of focused attacks. Honing my ice magic, I lanced out at her mind, imagining spears of ice hurtling into her brain. I ducked an arrow and slid into her legs, crashing her to the dirt.
With a yell, she rammed a knife into my shoulder, narrowly missing my heart as the blade dug in to the hilt. I kicked both of my legs squarely into her stomach, sending her flying several feet across the pit. Ignoring the knife in my shoulder, I threw bolt after bolt of ice magic at her, flinging every blade I had in the intervals.
Merden’s howls and curses became tinged with fear as more and more of my shots hit home and her magic started to rundry. She managed to load her final crossbow arrow, and I roared as it lodged in my side, running me clean through and piercing the armor at my back. But the pain wouldn’t last forever, and I wasn’t fucking giving up.
Bearing down on her with everything I had left, I shoved through her weakening attacks of the ice magic she’d switched to, throwing myself across the pit and landing in a crouch on her chest.
My sword had driven deep between her ribs, pinning her to the dirt. I’d narrowly missed her heart, but a deep red circle began to spread beneath her, and I stumbled to my feet as the mist surged between us. The crowd was eerily silent, as if they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.
I barely believed it myself. I’d won the final match, and it hardly seemed real.
“Surrender,” Merden croaked in the quiet room.
As the mist parted to show her broken body, the citizens of Saori Sang went absolutely insane.
Guards quietly stepped in to help Merden, working awkwardly to carry her up the ladder as her foul blood leaked all over them, staining their hands. She could still die from her wounds, but she was strong from years of drinking the blood of others. Something in me knew she would live, and I hoped that alone gave Kana the motivation to return and finish the job. Of course, the mist followed along with her for now, honoring her surrender and keeping anyone in the crowd from exacting their own revenge during the Trial.
It was the victory we’d been hoping for, but I had to admit as I stood alone in the pit, soaking in the joyous cheers, that it all felt a little hollow. I was King, but of a broken country, split between two palaces and overrun with gobbelins.
I was King of Saori Sang, but Merden was still alive.
Kana was still dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
KASSIAN
Guards returned to help haul me out of the pit, and a healer I’d never seen hurried forward to examine my injuries.
I could feel Rush and Cade nearby, but I still hesitated to draw attention to them. Bloodied and exhausted, I allowed myself to be led toward the dais and tended to. I barely felt like I’d done a good thing.
I settled heavily into the ugly-ass throne, watching the rejoicing of the vampires and half breeds all below me. I’d never felt less like myself.
A servant brought me a goblet of blood, and another brought me a huge plate of food. Other servants began to circulate in the ballroom, dutifully handing out whatever Merden had obviously prepared for her own victory celebration.
The nobles who had always fawned over her had mostly vanished with her after the surrender, although I saw a few of them simpering at the side of the dais. If they were waiting for a favorable word from me, they’d die of old age first.
I tolerated the celebrations for as long as I could before standing. It didn’t take long for the crowd to notice and quiet their revelry, and something in that respect gave me the confidence to address them.
“Thank you all for your support. My name is Kassian Kingston, and I am not a noble. My people have always lived in the countryside, never in the safety or luxury of a palace. I’m not better for it, but maybe I’m stronger. No matter where you come from, or how much vampire blood you have, you’ll find aplace in Saori Sang, as long as I’m King. But we need to return to the city now - we have a lot to rebuild, and there are still gobbelins threatening what is ours. Get your strength today, but then gather your families and join me in the palace. Tomorrow, we take back our city!”
Their answering cheers and shouts rattled my tired brain, and I forced myself to stand there a full minute, counting the seconds under my breath before jumping down off the back of the dais and racing through the halls to Kana’s rooms.
“Fuck me,” I breathed, slamming the door shut and looking up to see that Rush and Cade had somehow beat me there.
Cade was smirking, and even Rush had a grin on his face.
“That was very inspirational, your Majesty,” Rush said, unable to suppress a snicker. I was glad that at least they weren’t congratulating my win - I didn’t feel like celebrating with them, either.
