She’d been called directly after Daisy, and Daisy had been busy getting locked in. She’d missed that battle.
Tarian replayed what he remembered of it, a hazy memory within his concern for Daisy and the frustration that they had to do this at all. The frustration of an unsure future. The memory was enough. Plenty, actually.
Daisy would’ve chuckled, but the excruciating pain prevented her.
The female did seem lost, unsure where to stand or which foot to lean on. Her movements were clunky, and her blocks were usually clumsy. The sword strikes she missed emphasized her scrawny arms and lack of muscle tone. But the strikes that landed…
Daisy couldn’t have landed them better herself.
She didn’t barely win, just like I didn’t accidentally win. She’s not a sacrifice at all. She doesn’t look like much?—
Neither do you.
I beg your fucking pardon, Mr. Adonis,she thought, faux-scandalized.I look like a little dove, weak and fragile and sometimes pretty in flight. I look like the sort of creature a predator snaps up, and so does she. She cultivated her image, just like I did.
Is that what you think I am calling you?He paused.Of course you do. You wouldn’t know any different. Well. Yes, I agree, she is not as she seems, just like you. Be careful there. She has an ulterior motive in helping you, and that is likely to get close to you. Andthatis deadly in your situation.
Yes, Mother, thank you. I had no idea how the world works. What sort of dove areyoutalking about?
I’ll find out who put her forward as a champion. In the meantime, get some sleep. Faelynn will be in as soon as she can. I’ll see you tomorrow.
With that, his mind slipped away.
The pain controlled her world, a dull throb of intensity she couldn’t filter into the background. There would be no sleep for her tonight. She might as well replay everything she knew, from the battles to the male who’d accosted her in her sleep with no real desire to kill her, to the female who’d helped her.
It was the female she kept coming back to. What was her game here? She could see helping Daisy so as to get closer and get information, as Tarian had said. But why reveal the mindgazer magic? That was huge. It hinted at her power level, the status she should have, and the strangeness of ending up here. Something definitely didn’t add up.
Daisy was missing something, and as Tarian had said, that could prove deadly.
The next afternoon,Daisy winced as she shifted. The blood covering the marble floor was slick on her smooth-soled boots. The nobles lounged in their places, eating and chatting as the next opponent came out.
The male from last night. Surprise, surprise. He’d tried to get an edge by roughing her up. His benefactor had known who his opponent would be.
If only Faelynn’s healing and Daisy’s blood magic had worked faster. She wasn’t in tiptop shape. It hurt to twist, and extreme movement might buckle her knees. Luckily, this lump of muscle had a big welt on his clean-shaven head from where the female had hit him last night and a healing line of puffy skin where Daisy had stabbed him. He wasn’t in tiptop shape either.
“As before,” the king said, on his dais with those unnatural, gleaming eyes, “do not kill her. Break her, only. I wish to use her before long.”
These fights were to the death. Except hers, obviously. She was special, with a future much worse.Goodie.
“Commence,” the voice sounded, and this time, Daisy didn’t wait.
She snatched all five throwing knives. She tossed up the first, grabbed it by the blade, and threw. The next she plucked out of her other hand and threw. The next, the next. All five were in the air in quick succession. Just like last night, this fucker was slow to react.
He twisted jerkily, obviously in pain. He didn’t get far enough out of the way. The first knife lodged in the lower part of his neck, just off center. The second farther down. The next three in his chest. Those wouldn’t go deep enough to kill him, but they’d slow him further.
His body jerked with each strike.
A slash of stinging magic made her falter. She called on the chalice magic and cut it out. If he realized it, he didn’t show it.
Her next steps landed with purpose. There was no slipping and sliding today. No falling and flailing. That shit hurt too much. There was just ending this fight as quickly as fucking possible.
She whipped out her magical knife as he recovered, plucking the knives from his body. Blood gushed from his neck. It spread out over his mostly bare chest, save for the crisscrossing straps to house his knives. He grabbed one of them and stepped forward to meet her.
But he didn’t have a magical knife like she did.
Cluing in to her thoughts, the knife grew longer and longer. It stretched out into a spear.
Daisy took a deep breath, held it, stepped, and thrust. Pain flowered in her chest and shocked her system. Her knees went wobbly, and she cried in pain as her spear lodged into his side. Fuck. That wasn’t the right place.
