“I know what you’re thinking, and we don’t have time,” I said, despising myself a little for being responsible.
“They're still cleaning up the water mess,” Sin purred in his sultry voice. “And I can be fast.”
“I don’t know if you should brag about that,” I teased.
He nipped my ear. “You’ll pay for that later.”
“Promise?”
His wicked grin offered a guarantee, and I nearly abandoned the whole thing just to let Sin have his way with me.
It was thoughts of Ram’s broken body that sobered me up.
“Tonight,” I said, leaning in to brush my lips against the column of his neck. “We will get through this. We will get through the banquet. We will get through the damned ball. And once we put this whole nightmare behind us, you can remind me of all the ways Vitaean anatomy is superior to humans.”
I cupped him firmly through his breeches, smiling when I felt how hard he was just from my kisses.
He groaned and arched into my hand. “You’re killing me, Fea Remia.”
“Yeah? Well if I’m such a bad girl, you’ll just have to punish me.” I rubbed up and down his shaft. “So use the next few hours to figure out all the ways you can make me scream.”
His cock twitched, and I fought the urge to slip my hand inside his breeches to touch him. I needed to focus though, and Sin needed to prepare an illusion.
I dropped my hand. “Use your magic. Prove just how powerful you are.”
A ripple of power rolled off him, and I held my hand out, watching as my pale skinny arm darkened and filled with muscle.
I ran the hand over my chest. I still felt like me, but to anyone looking, I was now my father’s famed general.
A call for the igniservians to approach the field rang through the tunnels.
“Go,” Sin said. “I’ll be right behind you. I have to see the people to maintain the illusion so I’ll be in the corner of the arena. If you get worried, just look for me.” He kissed me onelast time. “You are incredible, Fea Remia. Your bravery, your power. I am in awe of you.”
I blushed as I jogged off into the bright sun, ready to meet my fate.
Chapter forty-six
I stepped tentatively out onto the sands, the suns' light a warm encouraging caress on my skin. I half expected cries of outrage and challenge, but it seemed Sin's magic had fooled everyone.
A nervous Kinyx arrived shortly after and took his place on the other side of the flaming barrel beside me.
Focusing my attention on the brazier stirred my own fire inside, and it strained against the leash of my will like a hound scenting blood. Images of Ram’s destroyed body filled my mind, and my anger hungered for vengeance. It didn’t want to lay down and concede. It wanted to be unleashed.
Soon, I told it, briefly forgetting my promise to Sin.
The horn blasted, and I was torn from my violent thoughts. Before I could even register the positions of the other fighters, the Gold Court caster, Direff, spun toward Kinyx with viper speed. Swinging his hands back and forth, Direff sent dozens of flaming bats flying from the brazier between them to divebomb the younger male.
Kinyx dropped into a low crouch, and the bats slammed into the wall behind him. Long whips of flame began cracking around my Diamond partner as he weaved his arms in an intricate pattern, cleaving the second wave of bats Direff sent in his direction.
While Kinyx and Direff locked horns, Jacksyn idly twirled his hand, and a blazing bear-like monstrosity burst out of a flaming barrel to go loping off toward Sarla.
The female didn't even bat an eye at the rushing wave of fury. Streams of fire flowed from her own brazier, forming a pair of massive floating arms, each as thick as a barrel and three feet long. She threw jabs and chops with her hands, and the flaming fists followed suit, tearing into the ursine construct with ease.
My fire screamed underneath my skin, begging me to stop standing around and do something. I found Sin watching me from near the tunnel, waiting for me to take a dive, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn't lay down and surrender after all I'd seen.
I needed to burn.
Scanning the arena, I searched for Harlix.
