The cage slowly begins to rise to the left of me, and hot smoke blows out, singeing my skin. I deeply exhale, closing my eyes from the rush of hot air but when I open, my skin remains fine. It doesn’t burn. It isn’t red.But perfectly fine.
With my back still glued to the boulder, I slowly begin to slide around it to be on the opposite side of where the dragon will soar from. My throat tightens, trying to inhale, but the air is too hot and thick with smoke.
Shit.
A blazing, deep-red fire erupts violently to my right, its scorching force whipping my hair into a frenzy. I squeeze my eyes shut from the heat, a muted cry ripping from my throat. My chest rises and falls rapidly as some men moan in pain, others screaming from the depths of their soul.
A man uses his elbow to drag himself over the rusty dirt, his body heavy as I hear him groan with each pull and see his jaw tightly clenched. His long, pitch-black hair hides most of his face, but when his entire form becomes visible, it's clear that his legs are severely burned. They are sizzling with red blood pooling all around, smearing along the ground. His calves are charred, and parts of his bones are exposed. But when he sees me, his eyes widen.
“Kill me!” he cries out to me. “Do it now!”
I freeze. My brows pull together, looking around to see if anyone else can take him out of his misery. That’s when I hear another cage clink, the metal shaking against the rocky wall. Another dragon must be released.
“It’s one from the Darklands! The one with lava!” I hear a man shout out, his voice carrying in the wind. “Stand your ground, men!”
I snap my gaze over my shoulder, peeking around the boulder, and that's when I see the dragons. They tower over us all, their necks swiveling and their heads almost touching where the Royals sit. But when the grayish one tries to blow fire towards the Royals, the fire blows back towards the dragon, bouncing off of an invisible shield.
So that is how they stay safe.
One, almost as dark as the midnight sky with no stars, has hundreds of spikes from the top of its head weaving down its spine and to its tail that cuts out into two. Shadowy smoke swivels around it, the charred wings which seem like lava weaving inside of them whip in the air, gusting the men to their backs. Lava trickles out from its scaly chest, singeing the ground around its massive feet. Its eyes are what creates goosebumps all over me—they glow a fiery red, brighter than any star I have ever seen.
The gray one that fights off a few men to the right of me is smaller, reaching the other dragon’s shoulder blades. It has no spikes and has one long tail that swings, throwing a few of the men against the rocky walls that wrap around the arena.
Now I see why everyone fears the ones from the Darklands.
“Please!” the man shouts out to me. I almost forgot he was there.
But before I catake a step to help him, Koen grabs him, taking him into his arms before slicing his throat. He takes his hand, closing the man's eyes before glancing my way. Koen stands slowly and deliberately, letting the dead man's body fall to the ground before taking a strideful step over him.
Great.I am going to have to survive the dragons and survive Koen’s deranged mind thinking some darkness is coming for meand he must kill me before it does. That he cannot control what is inside him.
“Here!” Someone yanks my hand backwards, and I trip over my feet as I stumble around the boulder. I let this person drag me, but when his snowy-white hair begins to whip and I see the hand woven braids, I inhale.
My lips part in disbelief. “Theon?”
“Did you think I died, Ren?” He teases as we run through the ash, ducking when fire bellows from the pit of the dragon's stomach. He takes me around another boulder in the far distance. Away from Koen.
“Why the hell are you still here!” My palms hit against his chest, shoving him backwards. “I wasn’t even supposed to be in this group! I came out here thinking you and—”
“You thought Theon and I died?” A sarcastic tone is twisted into Kaine’s voice, his lips curling upward into a teasing grin as his arms stretch wide. “You thought we would die in the first battle game? Come on, Serene.”
My eyes glisten, burning with happiness as I run into his arms, resting my head against his chest. “I hate you both.” I pull away, glaring up at him as his emerald eyes catch the fire that flickers around us. “Why did you two stay?”
“Because we overheard Skydance talking to another, saying he was going to stay hidden in the pit until you arrived.” Kaine looks over towards Theon, who grips his dagger tightly against his hip, scanning the area to make sure no one is near. “He said he has to kill you in order to be free.”
“Still don’t understand what that means.” Theon sighs, shrugging his shoulders. “But we stayed back to protect you from him.”
My bottom lip trembles as I glance between the two of them. “How would my death free him?”
Kaine glances around, watching the Darkland dragon’s tail hit against the boulder, making tiny pebbles emerge from it and blast it into the air. We all duck, covering our heads when someone grabs me by my hair, yanking me back. A painful gasp escapes my lips as my back slams against the ground. Some of the small pebbles sharply dig into my back and arms.
“There you are,” a manic voice shouts, his boots digging into the gravel as he makes his way over to me. “I am glad she can watch you die!”
I squint. “The Queen?” My chest tightens before letting out a cough. “Did the Queen hire you?”
“The true Queen did, yes.” Skydance’s face comes into view through the thick smoke, his lips curling into a wicked grin. “She is watching me, which means she will watch your death.”
“What true Queen?” My elbows dig into the ground, pulling my body just inches from the heat that radiates off of the dust and pebbles. “If Queen Antivianna didn’t hire you to kill me,who did?”
