Kerralyn nodded, her fingers brushing my forearm in a silent promise that we’d find each other again.
Bryson met my eyes, his broad frame both protective and vulnerable. “Storms don’t last forever. Just stand through it.”
Derren touched my elbow. “They’ll see what’s in us. Stay upright.”
My gaze finally fell on Maddox, standing apart from the others, watching me with an expression I couldn’t read. No cocky smirk right now. No blazing anger in his eyes. Just something dark and complicated and, fates help me, something that appeared to be concern.
I had to be misreading him.
He lifted his chin, spun on his heel, and strode toward the gate without saying a word.
We followed, our footsteps echoing in the narrow passage beyond.
I took the rear before moving up to stride in the middle where I could reach out to save any who might be attacked. I’d be strong forthem, the same way I’d once promised to be with my sister. While I hadn’t been able to protect her, I could my friends.
The gate groaned open with a sound like some great beast clearing its throat. Sunlight exploded across us, searing my vision white as we stepped into the pit.
The arena was huge, carved from white stone that had been stained pink and blue. Death dressed in marbled glory, with soaring walls curving up toward an open dome where sunlight poured through a gap.
People sat on stone benches built in elevated rows encircling the big open arena. They watched, silent.
Trew sat on a stone throne in the shadowed viewing box adorned with silver banners.
Even from this distance, I couldfeelhim. His presence hummed beneath my skin like electricity before a storm, making my teeth ache and my pulse stutter.
He wore a dark tunic embroidered with silver thread, deceptively simple, the kind of understated wealth that cost more than most people earned in a lifetime. He leaned back in his throne like he owned not only this arena but the very sky above.
His fingers drummed on the carved armrest in a slow, irregular rhythm that somehow felt more menacing than any weapon held to my chest.
I hated the way my breath snagged in my throat. Hated the pull I felt to go to him.
Enormous beasts milled about on the opposite side of the arena, a plethora of creatures from a nightmare or a dream. They hadn’t been caged or chained. They simply waited with the patience of predators who knew their time would come.
Scaled ones with eyes like burning coals. Furred ones with muscles that rippled beneath their pelts. Feathered ones with wingspans that could blot out the sun. All deadly. All calm in a way that made my spine crawl.
They didn’t pace or snarl or foam at the mouth like wild animalsshould. They watched us with intelligence, evaluating, considering. Their silence felt worse than any roar.
This was a celebration of power, bloody and public and monstrous.
A theater written in violence.
This final chapter in the Rite of Bonds also began without announcements or the explanation of rules. We stood in place as the beasts began to move.
A dragon lifted off the ground and soared closer, landing lightly in front of us. Lexie gasped and rantowardit, her scream-laugh bursting from her lungs. Part terror, all wild joy. The dragon dipped its head low, allowing her to touch its forehead, and the air shimmered around them.
She laughed and raced around the giant beast who watched indulgently as if she was a sweet child. She stopped by its side, and it dropped to the stone floor. A scramble, and she settled herself on its spine.
The dragon leaped, and they soared upward through the dome opening, vanishing into the blue beyond.
The crowd erupted with cheers.
Derren’s bonded beast was horned like a bull but as graceful as a deer. It lowered its big head and allowed him to rest his palm on its brow. The moment of contact sent ripples through the air. I could feel the bond forming, a spiraling, dizzying pull that almost made me stagger.
Tears streamed down Kerralyn’s cheeks as a serpent with scales like black mirrors wound around her in whispering coils, securing their bond. Her sobs turned to laughter, and they left through the opposite gate of the arena.
Bryson and even Maddox found a bond from the beasts on the floor of the arena, to cheers from the crowd.
Finally, I stood alone on the stained stone floor.
