The best way to remain standing in a fight is to avoid getting hit at all.
In the blink of an eye, I sidestepped from Draveen’s path of destruction, causing him to tumble off the Jawro circle, hurling himself into the crowd.
I let out the breath I’d been holding.
I did it. Ifuckingdid it!
I turned to Draveen, on the ground and rubbing his head in pure disbelief.
Elspeth’s music came to a halt. “Forfeit!” she yelled.
The sirens laughed wildly at Draveen’s disgrace. Simmering, his eyes, black as death, whipped up to me. Black claws extended from his finned hand. Ohshit. He shook with anger, then lunged in a flash. He clutched afinned hand around my neck, the claws biting into my flesh. The ground gave way as he lifted me by the throat.
I struggled to fight against his grip, but he was too strong.
“Forfeit! Forfeit!” Eslepth’s voice sounded far away, muted by the blood pooling in my ears.
Draveen didn’t let go.
“Stupid little girl. It will be as easy as Calypstra said to kill you. Disgusting pest.” He shook me about with ease like a plaything. He was going to kill me. I had won, but that didn’t matter. Because it wasn’t about the competition at all. It was about murdering me at Calypstra’s command.
Then, a large mass of force slammed into us, throwing me from Draveen’s grip. I thwacked into the hard ground.
It was Raylik who was on Draveen in a red blur.
Elspeth walked to the center of the Jawro circle. “Draveen of Twynox Circle has forfeited the Jawro competition. Elowyn of Blackthorn Circle is champion!” she belted.
The room resurged with applause. My hands reached the tendons of my damaged throat. A small price to pay to live another day.
I searched the room for Calypstra, who had vanished amid the chaos. Draveen clawed and thrashed like a wild animal until Raylik sent an earth-shattering blow to his jaw that knocked him unconscious. The now-raucous crowd cheered on. I stepped out of the circle, somehow, with my life.
Morvyn cut through the crowd and breezed up to meet me. He clasped his alabaster finned hands around my face, pulling me from the prayers I was sending to the Guardians, thanking each above. He gave me a big dramatic kiss on the cheek.
“You fucking genius idiot!” he shouted.
I smiled, wiping the wetness away with a still-quivering hand.
“Not exactly the way the tomes say to do it, buteffective,” Lumina said beside Morvyn.
“Draveen—did you hear him? He said Calypstra told him it would be easy to kill me,” I asked, scanning the room for her.
“Yes, everyone did. He practically screamed it.”
“She has to be behind everything that has happened to me then, right?”
She was nowhere to be found in the rushing crowd that was still cheering in celebration and watching as Raylik wrangled Draveen.
“She has to be,” Lumina agreed.
“Well, looks like she’s not here anymore,” Morvyn said, scanning the room too.
Hylos walked up to us. “Are you okay?” He grimaced at my neck, telling me it was already bruising.
“I will be fine. What are your plans for Calypstra?” I asked pointedly.
“I’ve sent my guards to find her, I heard what Draveen said and she’ll be questioned.”
“She likely poisoned me and possibly killed all of your prisoners … Infernum, she might even have been behind the kelpie attacking me. Now she has directly worked with someone to murder me in front of you and your entire court and you’ll question her. That is it?” I argued.
