I stop my thoughts right there and unsheathe my second dagger, raising both of them between us. This bitch does not get to win. She does not get Damien. The bond between Phantom and me wrenches taut as I sink low into a fighting stance, echoing the chilling smile she sends me. Magic buzzes in my torso.
Valeska’s pretty face morphs into a sardonic grin, her eyes going full black as her fangs extend. She eyes my fighting stance and laughs, hers remaining upright and casual. She’s confident that she can beat me in a one-on-one fight. “No separate challenge to save you. No help from your blood-whore friends. I’m going to enjoy killing you, human filth. Slowly and with pain.”
A chant rises in the crowd. “Va-les-ka. Va-les-ka.” No one here thinks I can win this trial.
I lift my chin. No one but me.
Without breaking eye contact, I extend my upward-facing palm, open and curl my fingers around the hilt of my dagger, beckoning her to me. Once. Twice.
She attacks.
Six months ago, this fight would be over in seconds. Valeska is the strongest and fastest opponent I have ever faced, and that includes Damien and Cassius. But I’m different now. I’m stronger. Months of practicing my magic and ingesting the healing herbs from Marabella pay off.
Her claws come at me at superspeed, and I weave and dodge with perfect clarity, my daggers sweeping ever closer to her face, her limbs, her gut. Her foot kicks toward my middle, but I turn to the side, sweeping my dagger up as I whirl around her back. I nick her cheekbone.
The crowd goes wild.
She pauses to wipe the blood, surprise ricocheting through her expression. She sucks the bead of red off her thumb.
The next time she attacks, she’s nothing but a blur. Only my hold on Phantom keeps my head attached to my shoulders. Bending backward until I’m parallel to the floor, I narrowly avoid Valeska’s clawed fingers as they pass right over my nose. I flop on my back, shoot my legs out between hers, and roll, taking her down to the floor with me. It’s an ugly, unrefined move, but it catches her off guard. She doesn’t expect me to be this fast.
That’s when I understand. The magic of the box ensures that these trials are fair. Sabrina said I’d never have to face Valeska because she was so much stronger than I was, thus the previous parallel challenges. But as Valeska’s fist narrowly misses my head and connects with the stone beside my ear, I sink my dagger into her kidney and realize why this is happening.
I am stronger now.
I am as strong as Valeska.
And I can win this thing.
I roll out from under her, tearing my blade from her side. It spurts maroon blood across the floor but heals quickly. Back on my feet, I go on the offensive. Closing the distance between us, I move inside her next blow and sweep my blade up. I aim for her throat, but she moves toward me so fast my blade lands under her bottom rib. I hear her flesh sizzle and know the Stygian blades are doing their dirty work. The angle of my blade means I must be close to her black heart. She catches my wrist, tries to pull it out, but I hold firm. I’m so close I imagine the tip scraping the useless organ.
She shifts and a vise closes around my throat—her opposite hand. I stab my other dagger through her wrist and try to use the blade as a lever to pry the hand off my throat.
Neither of us yields.
“Have you learned nothing about vampires, you human cunt?” Valeska spits in my face. “Our hearts don’t beat.” She releases my wrist. My dagger slices through her bones and lands in her heart. Gritting her teeth, she grabs my neck with both hands. Using all my strength, I drag the dagger up through her ribs, her lungs, her heart, splitting open her chest before tearing it sideways from her torso.
It’s a move that would be impossible with human weapons, but my blades are not of this planet.
Blood spurts from Valeska’s lips, and her grip on my throat eases just long enough for me to pull free.
“Your heart may not beat, but you do bleed,” I rasp through my recovering airway.
“Fucking cunt!” she gurgles. She shoves me with a strength I don’t see coming. I fly across the dome, my back slamming into the barrier with enough force I almost black out. I hear Phantom whimper inside my head. Our connection goes slack. My daggers clatter to the stone. My body crumples between them.
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. Black dots circle in my vision. I’ve never been hit by a car, but I have to believe this is what it feels like. Not a car, a truck. Not just a truck, a semi.
Precious minutes pass before I manage to draw a tiny sip of air into my lungs, and it burns.
Above me, Damien is in his monster form. and he’s slamming the heels of his paws against the dome, yelling for me to get up. I try. My arm bends. One knee. I spot a dagger and reach for it.
A chant grows in the silo. “EL-O-ISE, EL-O-ISE.” They’re chanting my name now. The corner of my mouth twitches.
I’m on my side. My searching hand finds the dagger, and I dare a glance toward Valeska. Inside a puddle of her own blood, she’s closed the wound I opened in her torso and is tucking all her parts inside. She’s managed to tear her shirt off and tie it around her chest like a tourniquet.
She’s hurt but she’s standing.
And she’s fucking angry.
