The last Cryptfiends tried to flank me, but the Varruk intercepted. His weapon shattered both of their skulls with one clean strike.
Silence fell.
Then he dropped to his knees in front of me and tilted his head back—exposing the kill spot under his chin.
A gesture of surrender. Or allegiance.
My grip on the swords tightened. I could end him. End all of this. But my body refused to move. My pulse roared louder than the crowd. The place on my wrist that Pantar had bitten to bond us together, thrummed, hot and bright, like it recognized something in him.
The air between us shifted—heavy, electric.
I met his eyes. “Why?”
No answer. Just that look, steady and unflinching, like he’d been waiting for me long before I was ever born.
The crowd screamed for blood, but I barely heard them. Strangely, I thought I heard a Fellat,myFellat, roar somewhere in the distance.
I stepped forward, blades slick and trembling in my hands, and whispered, “Please, stand with me.”
He did. Slowly. Then gave me a regal nod of approval.
The crowd erupted—chaos and fury and disbelief—but I only heard my heartbeat. And I knew the coliseum would never see a fight like this again. Never would a supposed enemy fight alongside their foe the way the Varruk and I had.
For one breathless moment, there was nothing but the echo of his weapon hitting the ground. The Varruk stood by my side proudly, blood and dust streaking both of us from head to toe.
Then—chaos.
“Finish him, girl!” Seamus’s voice split the silence like a whip.
He stood in the upper tier of the stands, his face flushed from wine and fury. I could see the veins pulsing in his neck even from here.
I didn’t move.
His sneer deepened. “Do it, or I’ll have you dragged in front of your betters and punished!”
The crowd fed on his rage, chanting for a kill. But I could feel something else moving under the surface—a tension, an awareness. The Varruk hadn’t just surrendered; he’d chosen. And whatever he’d chosen, it terrified Seamus.
He shouted again, “Guards!”
I heard the click of crossbows from the platform above the gate. Four soldiers aimed down at the Varruk’s head.
My body moved before my mind caught up. I stepped between them.
Gasps rippled through the stands. The guards hesitated, uncertain.
Seamus’s expression twisted from fury to disbelief. “You insolent little?—”
“Try it, and you’ll regret it.” I slid my swords into their sheaths and prepared to reveal my hidden abilities. I wouldn’t… no, I couldn’t let them hurt him if I could stop it.
The Varuk turned his gaze to me, and in his eyes, I saw respect for me and his allegiance.
Seamus screamed in rage, “You’ll regret this, Reverie Hawth?—”
The Varruk’s growl cut him off. The sound was deep enough to rattle the sand under my boots.
Seamus flinched. Just slightly—but enough that I saw it.
I took another step forward, pulling my blades from their sheaths and raising both so they caught the sunlight.
