Her focus almost held—until the fountain drew her attention. The bronze mirror above it gleamed, its surface pulsing in time with the fury inside her, beckoning. Katell’s throat tightened. Step by step she drifted closer and peered inside.
The surface rippled; shadows stretched into shape—and the battlefield opened before her eyes. Rasennan soldiers stood in tight formation, shields locked against the Westerners’ relentless assault. Fire and ice clashed; explosions of raw power ripped through the lines. Lightning split the sky, searing the Rasennan ranks. And striding through the carnage was a Makhai—monstrous and unstoppable—carving a path of destruction like a living nightmare.
Katell couldn’t breathe. Whispers filled her skull:Kill. Kill them all.Her magic shuddered in delight, surging at the call of slaughter. Heat bloomed under her skin, aching to join the carnage. And there, at the centre of it all, wreathed in Laran’s Flame, was her mortal body.
“Look at what’s become of you.” Laran’s voice sliced through her. “They’ve reduced you to a mindless weapon, when you should be leading armies, forging victories, and bringing empires to their knees.”
Horror crashed through her in a choking wave. “By the Moon… what have they done?”
The Makhai tore through the battlefield—a faceless spectre of war cloaked in ruin. Its towering frame was swathed in tattered black; the shredded cloak snapped like a war banner in the storm. It didn’t walk, itglided,silent as death, moving with apredatory grace that made it more nightmare than man. In its hand, it wielded the weapons of war—a Rasennan sword and spear already dripping with blood.
It didn’t speak or hesitate. Itslaughtered.
Dorias had called them demons of the battlefield. Now they marched for her.
“Well done, daughter,” Laran said dryly, a crooked smile curling his mouth. He gestured to the river where two more Makhai loomed, holding back the roaring waters with brute power. “You’ve actually managed to summon three of them.”
More, more.
The thought clawed at her, and a sick thrill coiled in her chest. Yes—there were more. She could feel them in the magic writhing inside her, pulsing and eager. How many demons could she summon if she let herself go?
She spotted a Western warrior, sword raised, bellowing a defiant war cry. The Makhai didn’t hesitate.Its blackened arm slammed into the Westerner’s chest like a battering ram, sending him sprawling. Before he could recover, the demon drove its sword into his stomach. He gasped, knees buckling, weapon slipping from blood-slicked fingers. His life poured out in hot rivulets over the dirt, steaming in the cold air.
Katell clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms.
But the Makhai wasn’t done. Its hand shot out, seizing the Westerner’s throat. With a savage twist, it snapped his neck and let the lifeless body crumple to the earth. Then it turned, searching for its next prey.
Rage surged through Katell, helping her force the seething magic inside her into submission. Her teeth ground together. “I have to stop this.”
But a flash of auburn hair among the melee nearly brought her to her knees.
Her heart seized.
Alena.
Her sister stood at the edge of the battlefield, clad in shimmering armour, their mother’s necklace gleaming at her throat.
At her side, Leukos raised one hand, and a wave of frost swept across the battlefield before bursting outwards. Spears of ice sliced through the air, precise and merciless. Rasennan soldiers collapsed mid-charge, impaled or frozen where they stood.
Katell stared, stunned. She’d known Leukos was Gifted, but this… this was something else.
And then Nik blinked into view through the smoke, shield raised, his stance taut with battle-born discipline. The sight of him struck her like a blow.
Golden skin streaked with blood and ash. Dirty blond hair tied back in a braid. Achaean armour clinging to his broad frame as if forged for him alone. The grim focus in his sharp blue eyes, the tension in his jaw, the way he moved—calculated, deadly.
No longer a slave or a mere fighter, he looked every bit the warrior he was born to be.
But then his stride faltered. Blood soaked the side of his tunic, dark and spreading fast.
Katell’s heart twisted. Had a Makhai struck him—or, stars be cursed, hadshe?
The thought hollowed her out.
He shouted something, and alarm flickered across Alena’s face.
Katell’s mortal body strode across the bloodstained earth, cutting a relentless swath through the carnage.
Alena bolted, the wolves racing ahead. Leukos unleashed another arc of ice, then fell into step beside her, clearing a path with brutal efficiency. Nik surged forward in a streak of motion,blade flashing, shield smashing aside anyone in his way. He moved with the same ferocity he’d wielded in the arena.
