He dropped to his knees. “No, but I might live another week.”
“To plan another ambush against me?”
“No, I will not do that. If I live another week, then I will present myself to you for death.”
He was doing that now. But consider me curious. “What is so important that you must die next week instead?”
“My family, Mate-Intended. In another week, I can prepare them for the loss of me and what I provide.”
Being a mother, I could not miss the depth of his tone that was one reserved for children. He may have a mate, but the fear that had fueled him to drop to his knees and beg for time was driven by the greatest love of all.
“You might have your week, demon,” I told him. “You will drop to your knees just like this in the last round. Or I will ensure your family hears the painful details of the torture you met before death.”
He sucked in a breath. “Yes, Mate-Intended. Thank you, Mate-Intended. I will not fight back.”
I wrinkled my nose but opened a portal and walked through to stand immediately before the checkpoint.
I’d made my kills—many of them, if the kills of the demon ghosts could be placed at my door.
But I turned from the checkpoint to watch the demons scrambling through the arena. I pulsed my magic forth andblinked at the tiny number of competitors remaining.Yep,the dead had done my dirty work, and they’d loved every moment, judging by the cackling and gurgling laughter filling the air.
Beyond them, the crowd was… silent. Fascinated. Some had covered their mouths, but all eyes were fixed on the morbid massacre in the arena.
A fight between two living demons caught my gaze. An orange kicked savagely at a yellow, who tumbled over the ground.
The yellow lifted his head, and I could tell that he was weakened—at the end of his strength. Myfavoriteyellow.
The orange turned away to struggle with an enormous boulder.Yep,that would do the job.
I unsheathed my father’s blade and slid the weapon across the ground toward the yellow. The yellow’s eyes widened, and he managed to tuck the blade beneath his body, then feigned unconsciousness.
I crouched in wait, keeping my senses tuned to the surrounding fights. Some had made the checkpoint already. Three demons. A green and two oranges.
The red ran past me, and I let him enter the checkpoint too.
The orange staggered with the boulder to my yellow. She planned to rearrange my yellow’s face.
He rolled at the last moment, but didn’t plunge the blade into her stomach. Instead, the yellow pushed the bladebetweenher legs and stabbed her in the ass.
The orange howled and arched back. The weight of the boulder threw her balance off.
The yellow hooked his foot around her ankle. The orange lost her footing, and I wasn’t alone in holding my breath as the boulder came crashing down.
On her face.
There was something impressive about the cunning of yellow demons, and this yellow was something more. He’d stabbed her in the perfect place. Any other attack might have ended up with the boulder still crushinghim.
The yellow dragged himself across the ground, then started to saw at the orange’s neck. He was weak, but if one thing could be said for the weakest demons in the realm, they were accustomed to using elbow grease to get the job done.
He collapsed to the ground after completing his task, one hand still clasping the blade. Not that the weapon was any use to him. The demon was done.
For the best.I didn’t want to kill him next week. He would fail to reach the checkpoint, and the guards would kill him when time ran out.
I was a coward sometimes. I didn’t even want to kill the red who’d ambushed me.
I scanned the arena one last time, and my stomach swooped at the lack of players. Only six of us remained, and one of us wouldn’t make the checkpoint.
The dead gathered before me, and I bowed to them.
