I hit the ground hard, the training yard rushing back in fragments of color and breath. My palms burned. Faint lines ofgold still lingered beneath the skin, pulsing like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine.
“I saw him,” I whispered. “Kratos… and her.” The words caught in my throat. “Something happened between them. Something that broke everything.”
The voices of the Ancestors stirred, but none spoke. Only the wind answered—carrying the ghost scent of smoke and salt, like Aurathia was remembering a heartbreak older than itself.
“Reverie!” Seamus’s voice broke into my musings. “Prepare yourself. You’ve got another match tonight.” He smirked evilly.
“What?!” We never fight two consecutive days in a row. I pushed myself slowly to my feet.
He laughed. “Today is special. You are much in demand after your last performance.”
Fuck! I knew that yesterday wouldn’t go unpunished, but I never thought it would take place in front of everyone and possibly mean my death.
There’s no way I can let the guys know. They’d get themselves killed trying to rush my rescue.
Seamus was still laughing as he left. I saw the guy from earlier in the dining hall slip into the shadows behind him, giving me a slight nod of his head before he disappeared.
Shit. What the fuck was I going to do now?
“Survive.” I heard the ghostly whisper of one of the voices that had plagued me lately.
Chapter 19
Zane
Bellona was louder than sin. Even at dawn, the city roared with life—vendors shouting, soldiers barking orders, the coliseum gates still slick with yesterday’s blood.
Word traveled fast here. Everyone wanted to talk about the girl who refused to kill her monster.
Ourgirl. Our Nexus.
I leaned against the crumbling edge of a market wall, scanning the towers above the arena. The whole place pulsed with energy—auras layered like storm clouds. Reverie’s presence brushed my mind again, soft but steady, like a heartbeat trying to sync with mine.
“Zane?”
“Still here, precious girl.”
“You shouldn’t be. It’s way too dangerous.”I could hear the concern in her voice.
“Danger is my middle name.”
“I happen to know that’s bullshit.”
A low growl from behind me snapped the smile off my face.
Oren. Better known as Shitstorm.
I understood him more after all these months and all the time we’d spent together. He’d definitely changed since our younger years, and there were reasons for that. Still, he wasShitstormuntil Reverie said otherwise.
“Focus,” he said, voice like thunder.“She’s near the upper part of the compound.”
“The training yard,”Nathan grunted.
Oren nodded.“We move when Jet gives the all-clear.”
I raised a brow at him. “You’re sure you’re not ceding control of this mission to Jet?”
Nathan snorted,“He’d sooner give Selene oral.”
