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It took all my self-control not to break his nose. Shame on me for falling for his friendly act. History had taught me better than that.
“To the victor go the spoils,” he said with a half-hearted salute.
I pushed past Albert and walked to the entrance marked with red.
Gunther appeared beside me. “Everything okay? You look pissed as hell.”
“Do you understand what’s about to happen?” I asked quietly.
“There’s a fight. One of you wins. Money exchanges hands. My sister lives. You get paid. Does that cover the salient points?”
“Not quite.”
He leaned closer. “What is it?”
“Stay with Dusty. If this goes tits up at any point, I want you to take her and run. Don’t wait for me.”
“But what about Magnarella?”
“He’s not your problem.”
“He will be if you break our deal.”
I fixed him with my most earnest expression. “Listen to me, Gun. I’ll make sure I fulfill the contract for Dusty’s sake, but there’s a chance things are going to get ugly in here. I don’t want you two to get hurt.”
“Then let me help. This face can’t do ugly, but I have other abilities.”
I patted his cheek. “I know you do, and I want you to use them to save your sister.”
He withdrew. “Break a leg, Lorelei. Preferably your opponent’s.”
I turned to face the ring. My mind was a blur of ideas. Unfortunately, not one of them ended with Kaleigh and I leaving the ring unscathed.
My gut twisted when I spotted Naomi Smith in the stands. What was the investigator for The Corporation doing here? I gave her what she wanted. Why hadn’t she left town?
This was bad news.
Very bad.
It was too late to turn back now. I had to follow through with the plan and hope for the best. If everything went smoothly, Smith would believe the same as everybody else, that the elixir was the source of my powers.
The second bell rang. The crowd broke into hoots and applause. I entered the ring and felt the crackle of magic as the ward closed around me.
My opponent and I took a moment to scrutinize each other. The condescending curl of her lip told me she liked her odds. I was back in high school, getting sized up by the members of the cool girls’ table. It didn’t faze me then and it sure as shit didn’t faze me now.
I don’t want to hurt you.
Albert whistled and Kaleigh’s demeanor changed. She paced the edge of the cage like a stressed animal that had disconnected from her surroundings. The hair on the back of my neck responded to the seemingly innocuous repetition. I was trapped in an enclosure with a stressed-out deity.
No good could come from this.
The sooner I knew which god I was fighting, the sooner I knew whether her sneer was justified.
Her mouth split open, releasing a breath as hot as a desert wind. There was only one goddess I associated with that particular talent.
Sekhmet.
Kaleigh had the power of the Egyptian goddess of war and disease, a goddess that nearly destroyed all of humanity.
