I can’t accept that.
With the crowd still cheering all around me, I smash my fists into Isaac’s neck, breaking bones. Purple blood gushes from his open mouth while his eyes stare at me in horror. I punch his throat hard enough to sever his head from his body.
The crowd has stopped cheering, leaving a heavy silence to settle over the arena. I turn to look at Hector, who glares at me with shock. That look is more painful than any of Isaac’s punches, but I did it forhim, even if he doesn’t see it yet. And Finn… Finn has left.
I rise from Isaac’s bloodied corpse. His eyes are still wide open in his decapitated head.
Through the deafening silence of the crowd, I step out of the arena for the last time.
Chapter 24
Finn
“That fucking fool!”
I’m sitting on the couch and staring at the floor, my body heavy and numb. I can’t unsee the horrors; they play in my mind on repeat. Whoever it was who brutally murdered their rival after Isaac surrendered, it couldn’t have been Caden. NotmyCaden, at least.
I look up at Hector. “You created a monster. What did you expect?”
He raises his hand to strike me, but I don’t flinch, and he stops midair. “Don’t push me, Finn. Not now.” He slumps onto the couch next to me, rubbing his face. His glorious day has turned into a fiasco, and at least there’s some comfort in that. “They need to follow Caden out of admiration, not out of fear. Right now, no one admires that thing.”
I clench my fists. “He’s not athing,and if you don’t like what you created, then change him back!”
He shakes his head. “This isn’t a game I can rewind. Years of trial and error brought me to this moment.”
And I hope you live to regret each and every year.
“Why couldn’t you have given him all that power without messing up his mind?”
“I can’t give so much of myself without altering the brain. He would have gone crazy—I learned that the hard way.”
I take in his words. “Were there other champions before Caden?”
“Of course there were, but I didn’t call them that back then. I always knew I’d need someone to lead my human army, a better soldier than I could ever be. So yes, there were others, but they never survived. Caden is the result of more than six different candidates, going back over a decade.”
“Is he… even still in there?”
“What do you mean?”
“My Caden. Is he still in there somewhere?” I’m not going to cry in front of this man, but I feel like a raw nerve, mourning someone who is still alive.
Hector rolls his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic. He is what he is. Start accepting it.”
Never. But I need to find out more if I’m to make it better, even though it seems impossible right now. Like River said—I must have faith.
Hector leans closer, his mouth next to my ear. “What you should be more concerned about is what will happen toyounow that Caden no longer cares if you live or die.”
I tense, my breath quickening. I was so focused on Caden that I didn’t stop to think about my fate in all of this. “Are you going to kill me now?”
He puts his arm around my shoulders. “With how much I’ve been enjoying your company? Unlikely. But we will need tomake some changes once I get my full strength back. My final gift to Caden was more demanding than I expected.”
“What… changes?”
He strokes my cheek, as close as a lover. I stop breathing when I see his tail rising. The last time I saw it, it was deep in Caden’s guts.
Hector whispers, “I can smell your fear. It’s oozing from your pores.”
“I don’t want your gift.”
