Would he really not stop till Aimilia yielded? When was Aimilia going to yield?
A bolt of vitae flew through the air; Aimilia jerked as it made contact with her side. Another one followed, hitting her square in the side. The whip flew through the air again, locking around her ankle. Aimilia’s good arm twitched, but it barely moved.
Cyprian dragged her back through the dirt again, although this time he didn’t stop. He moved across the ring, dragging Aimilia behind him.
Nikias had seen her do that move plenty of times before; she must have learned it from somewhere.
Although seeing it performed on her was so much worse.
It seemed to last an eternity, before Cyprian finally stopped and approached her again. This time Aimilia lay on her side, eyes squeezed shut.
Nikias couldn’t tell if she was even conscious anymore. He presumed she was or else the walls would have fallen. Nikias’ arm throbbed from where the burns had been seared into him as he kept trying to break free.
Cyprian knelt in front of her, grabbing her jaw in one hand and tilting her face toward his. “Have you had enough?”
Nikias could only just barely make out Aimilia’s words. “S—stop, please.”
Cyprian said, “Say it.”
In a choked, broken whisper, “I yield.”
Cyprian let go, and Aimilia slumped to the ground.
The walls fell, but Nikias was already sprinting across the ground. Angry red burns tore through his arm, but Nikias didn’t care. His lips moved, but Aimilia’s name never actually left his lips.
Cyprian stepped away from her and turned out to face the crowd. The crowd was deathly silent. Not a single person cheered.
Nikias crashed to his knees in the dirt beside Aimilia. Her arm was tucked into her chest and her eyes were closed. The tear tracks were the only thing that cut through the grime that had accumulated on her face. Her hair was half spilling out of her ruined braid, sticking to her skin and still slick with sweat. Her head was in the dirt, and her eyes were closed. The only sign of life was the very slight rise and fall of her chest.
Nikias looked up, trying to scream for a healer, but the rune on his neck prevented him. No one else had moved. They were all just watching Cyprian. He gathered Aimilia into his arms and began looking for an injury that was within his ability to heal. The crowd murmured right as Nikias began to cast a healingrune over a burn on Aimilia’s side that had torn through her chiton. Nikias looked up, the glow of vitae from his rune making it hard to see, but he was able to make out Prisca rising from her seat, slowly approaching.
Nikias tried to call out again, but the rune on his throat flared. Let them all see it. Nikias didn’t care anymore. If his mother wanted to try and collar him like a dog, he didn’t care if anyone knew it anymore.
Prisca said, “Commander Cyprian, it seems you won.”
Cyprian looked back over his shoulder, and Nikias narrowed his eyes at him.
He was dead. Nikias didn’t care what it would take, but he was going to make him pay for this.
Cyprian said, “Yes. I won.”
Prisca cleared her throat and turned back to the crowd, calling out, “Commander Cyprian has won his challenge, thus making him the new Head of House Mitis.”
There was some scattered polite applause, but even the most ruthless Runai would have had a hard time stomaching watching that display. The Runai loved to fight, but there was no pleasure in watching a match that was so completely one-sided.
A soft groan came from his arms. Nikias immediately abandoned everything else to look at Aimilia. He’d just barely finished healing the large burn when her eyes blinked open. She stared up at him and her gaze was glassy and unfocused. She stared at him for a moment before she choked out a whispered, “N—Nikias?”
He nodded, holding her still with one arm and cupping her face with the other. He could only nod in response.
She squeezed her eyes shut again. “It hurts.”
Another tear slipped out of her eye, this time falling to Nikias’ palm. The soft whimper that left her lips tore Nikias in two. He had no idea what the healers were waiting on, but hedidn’t care. He wasn’t going to just sit there, holding her and completely useless.
Not again.
He moved on to the next burn that he could see, casting as quickly as he could. He fumbled the rune the first time, but the second time it took. She opened her eyes again. She looked up him and said, “What—What are you doing?”
Nikias kept healing since he could not speak. She looked down and stared blankly at the rune healing the burn on her leg. Then her head slumped against his shoulder. “Stop. Please.”
