She lifted his blood to her mouth. I couldn’t hear her over the cacophony of the spectators, but her lips moved swiftly, words flying off her tongue. I’d only ever seen Alchemists do something like that.
Fire erupted at the bear Shifter’s feet. Vines appeared from nowhere and spiraled around his limbs, making him unable to do anything but thrash around in the flames. He fell to his knees and tried to roll away, but the fire followed him.
Was she casting some sort of spell?
An icy numbness slipped from my spine all the way to my feet, coating my insides with horror.
Strider. Shadow Wielder. Lightbender. Alchemist. Four of the six magics.
A memory came back to me, Nox’s voice echoing in my mind.“She has all six. All six magics of the Veridian Empire.”
My breaths came faster as the flames consumed the Shifter, his wails mixing with the scent of charring flesh. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t possibly be?—
The woman looked straight at me.
Or rather, above me. At Scarven’s head mere inches behind mine. I glanced up and saw him give her a single nod.
She looked back to her victim and cocked her head. With one final word from her blood-streaked lips, there was a crack.
The Shifter’s neck snapped to the side, and he went quiet. The crowd was wild, their cheers so loud they shook the ground.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Scarven asked, close enough that hiswords reached me through the noise. “A stunning weapon. The only one of her kind.”
I swallowed a heavy lump in my throat, trying to keep my voice steady. “It—it looks like she has many powers.” I was hoping, praying,pleadingit wasn’t her. Anyone but her.
“You have no idea, love,” he rumbled. “No one has ever possessed all the powers of our empire. She’s our champion.” The pride in his voice made me sick. “Defeats every challenger she has ever faced.”
My heart dropped like a stone. It washer.
It was Nox’s sister.
Everything around me felt too hot and close, pushing against me from all sides. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Nox what I’d seen. That his sister was forced to fight in this revolting showcase, that she’d been turned into a weapon of destruction that murdered his other subjects forsport.
I closed my eyes. I had to remember where I was. Who I was supposed to be. I could spiral later—right now, I needed to be intrigued. Scarven’s little lamb, thrown into the deep end and learning to swim. His newproject.
The crowd was beginning to die down, shouts turning to animated conversations as they discussed the fights and exchanged money. That must’ve been the last fight of the night, for more bodies started working their way to the exits lining the dome. Scarven kept a hand planted on my back as he guided me to the tunnel we’d come from.
I licked my lips. “She was incredible. How did you make her like that?”
“This one was actually born that way, if you can believe it.” We entered the dark tunnel, and the sounds of the fighting ring faded behind us. “She’s been with me since birth. I’ve trained her to answer only to me.” His features were smug, a dangerous gleam in his black eyes. There was this wild energy around him, as if the fighting matches had given him a high. “She’s powerful. Herblood is the perfect test for our trials, since it allows my Alchemist to see the effects on each magic type all in one.”
It took every ounce of control not to shudder at his words.The perfect test. How could I tell Nox? The torture she had to go through, the mind control he inflicted on her…it was too much.
But she’s alive, a quiet voice in the back of my mind reminded me.
She was alive, and she washere. That was more information than the Ashen Order had before. Maybe I could use this.
I paused mid-step, making Scarven stop and raise an eyebrow. I opened my mouth as if I wanted to say something, then bit down on my bottom lip in fake hesitation.
“What is it, love?” he purred, taking a step closer. “Is this too much for you?”
“No, I just—” I let out a small laugh and leaned my back against the tunnel wall. “Have you ever tried these…testson someone like…like me? Someone without magic?”
He blinked, then his lips curved into a dark smile. “Is someone a little curious?”
I flicked my tongue along my bottom lip, and his eyes tracked the motion. Lowering my voice, I said, “What if I was?”
He laughed, a low, thunderous rumble that sounded like a threat. My heart beat rapidly in my chest, sensing the danger in his proximity. But I held my ground. I was so close to something more. Something we coulduse.
