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Iwas up before the sun broke the horizon. When I’d been a Venerit, sleep never eluded me the night before a fight. Now, knowing the price of failure, and putting those I love in the line of fire, kept me staring at the stars long after Nica and Theon had fallen asleep beside me and jerking awake to a still-dark sky.
I’d seen Samir’s face in my dreams. Wide, terrified, yet somehow grateful eyes staring back at me while the warmth of his blood wet the skin of my hands. It’d been a good long while since I’d dreamed of him. I stood facing east, ready to welcome the dawn, and lifted my face to the sky.
“We’re taking Tisak, Samir,” I whispered into the morning’s stillness. “Thousands will stand free before the sun sets today, and they’ll never have to face the cruelty you endured again. I swear it. I hope that brings you peace.”
A gentle breeze, cool and crisp, flowed over me, soothing the deep ache that’d lived in my heart since I took that boy’s life.
Behind me, the whole of the Resistance army slept on the ground, cloaked by fae magic. Turning, I looked over all their sleeping forms and on to the walls of Tisak mere miles away. We were well away from all the roads leading in, camped in the middle of an open field. Some of our number would break off early and circle the city to enter at different gates.
The fae warriors Jedrek had brought with him could conceal ten to fifteen people at a time. The plan was to sneak groups right through the different gates of the city throughout the day leading up to the big Pelas Games—the yearly event Nica, Braz, and I used to fight in, and win, every year. With so much traffic heading into the city, it shouldn’t be too difficult to go unnoticed.
A presence at my elbow made me turn my head and look down. Florin stood there, white-blond hair shining gold in the first rays of sunlight, a stark contrast against his sleek black horns.
“Nervous?” I asked him.
He took a slow breath and gave a little nod, eyes never leaving the horizon. “A little.” Arching a brow, he glanced up at me. “You?”
I let out a little snort. “A little.”
A tiny smile lit his face. “If we do this, it will change so much.”
“Yes.” Looking over my shoulder, I made sure Theon was still snug in Nica’s arms. “Florin—”
“I know what you’re going to ask.” He turned so he was facing me. “If things go badly, and I can get him out, I will.”
I gave him a nod. I would have asked Nica or Braz the same, but I knew without a doubt that neither of them would ever leave me behind. We’d fought too long beside one another, spent too many years ensuring all three of us lived through each and every battle, on and off the sands. No, I couldn’t ask this of them. It wasn’t fair.
But Florin, well, he was different, and I knew he’d save our little mage, even if he couldn’t get the rest of us out with them.
* * *
The airbeneath the arena smelled exactly as I remembered it—closed, old, sweaty, and faintly of blood. We’d made it past the city gates without incident, and so far, the lack of alarms being raised led me to believe that the other groups had gone undetected as well.
Florin led the way, keeping his invisibility spell draped over all of us. Nica walked directly behind me, Theon and Cedric behind him, and Braz and Seph acting as rear guard. The tunnel around us was made of stacked sandstone with interspersed wooden columns and beams to bear its weight. The farther in we walked, the damper the packed dirt floor beneath our feet became, and the smell of unwashed bodies grew ever more pungent.
After we’d escaped House Natas, I never thought I’d stand in the Tisak arena during the Pelas Games again.
The tunnel opened to the holding area. Venerits waiting for their time on the sand filled the cells lining the walls. Down the center, their Venerati—the Venerit trainers like Seph had been—as well as four mage guards roamed, preparing weapons and listening to the signals from the guards overhead so they knew when to send the next batch of warriors up. The mages, we’d have to take out. It was our hope the Venerati would stand with us as Seph had.
Florin stopped just past the tunnel’s entrance, watching the mage guards. Not one of them so much as cast a glance our way. After a few more moments, he looked back over his shoulder and nodded.
That was our cue. Seph, Braz, Nica, and I prowled forward. Each of us still invisible and wearing one of the fae amulets we’d extricated from that chest at the volcanic outpost. When I’d fitted the amulet over my head, the chain had morphed, shortening until it fit me perfectly. It didn’t dangle but stayed in place against my chest.
A few days ago, a reluctant Theon had sent the tiniest bit of his power at one of the plated spots on my arm, only for the power to flow over my skin like water and vanish. His beautiful blue eyes had widened before a giant smile broke over his face. The same fierce hope had lit inside my chest as well—we were going to win this. I still believed that now.
Pulling my dagger from my belt, I stalked forward, careful not to touch anything or anyone. It wouldn’t do to give ourselves away by moving carelessly before everyone was in place. My target was the mage guard in the front right corner of the room.
I stopped several feet in front of my target. He was young, probably barely in his twenties, with dark hair and green eyes. I’d never seen him before, which meant he was new to this station. The other three guards, I knew at a glance from the previous games. Part of me wished it would be one of them under my knife.
Looking at the others, I saw we’d all made it close to our targets.
Florin—he was the most adept at cloaking his own voice—counted out, “One, two, three, go!”
We all struck at the same moment. The young mage fell with my dagger in his throat and wide green eyes, his mouth stretched open in a silent scream.
The Venerati all went on the defensive, lifting whatever weapon was in their hands and backing toward each other, prepared to fight as a group. But no one called for more mages.
I knew the instant Florin dropped our camouflage. Stunned gasps filled the room until one bewildered Venerati said, “Seph?”
