Tex grunts. “You ready?”
I nod once. “Where we going?”
Jace’s voice is the one that answers. Low. Certain.
“You’ll see.”
The car ride is quiet, but it hums with tension.
I keep trying to guess where we’re going, but the path doesn’t makesense. We take two different service roads, then turn down a gated drive I didn’t even know existed behind the east courtyard. Jace drives. The others joke around in the back, half-whispers and snorts of laughter.
But I can feel the shift.
The way Tex bounces his knee. The way Noah keeps checking the rearview mirror like he’s watching for a tail.
Even Luca’s grin is tighter than usual.
“Are we going to get arrested?” I ask, only half-joking.
Jace doesn’t look over. “Not unless you bring a weapon into the ring.”
“Wait, what?”
We stop.
A sleek steel door waits at the bottom of a narrow ramp, cut straight into the stone foundation. Jace punches in a code. The door slides open with a hiss.
Heat rushes up from the darkness.
Bass-heavy music thumps beneath the ground. Dim lighting flickers across rusted pipes and exposed brick. And voices, dozens of them, rise in a low roar that smells like sweat and blood and adrenaline.
Luca turns and grins. “Welcome to the Cage.”
Noah leans in close enough for only me to hear. “Guild tradition. Off-the-books. Every few weeks, they open the floor and let people settle scores or just show off.”
I blink. “And people bet on it?”
“Obscene amounts of money,” Luca says with a big smile.
Tex tugs off his jacket and tosses it over his shoulder. “Rules are simple,” he says. “No weapons. No killing. Everything else? Fair game.”
“And you’re fighting?” I ask, turning to look at him.
Tex shrugs like it’s nothing. But there’s a flicker in his eyes.
“Was already signed up before today. Figured I’d still go a round or two. Burn some things off. You okay with that?”
The truth is, I should feel tense. Nervous. Something. But instead, heat blooms under my skin.
I nod. “Yeah. I want to see.”
He studies me for half a second, then nods once. “Good.”
He plants a quick kiss on my lips before turning to head in a different direction.
I stand, blinking as he casually strolls away.
“Did he just…” Luca points at Tex, eyes wide.
