I punch until I feelhimbreak, not just his face but thefightin him.
Silence wraps the cage like smoke.
I straddle him, breathing fire, my knuckles bleeding. His hands fall limp. His mouth is slack, blood pooling from a split in his jaw.
And Istillwant to hit him.
I’m not sure when I stopped hearing the crowd.
Maybe when his nose shattered. Maybe when I finally stopped seeing red and started seeing her, Aoife burned into my memory like the only light I’ve got left.
But now it’s quiet.
Too quiet.
I can’t hear anything as I continue to punch him with everything I have left in me.
That’s when I feel the hands, Leo, Nico, Marco, pulling me back.
“That’s enough!” Leo’s voice cuts through the haze.
“No,” I snarl. “It’s not.”
But my body gives in. I collapse back, dragging blood with me, my chest heaving, and I stare up at the lights.
It’s done.
I won.
But I didn’t just win. Iburiedhim, and everyone in the ring knows it.
My ribs are burning, I think he broke some of them, and my fucking nose. The fucker broke my nose.
Nico nods from the side, arms crossed. “Now you look like a man willing to go to war.” He helps me to stand, because there is no way I can stand on my own at the moment.
I wipe blood from my face with the back of my hand. “War’s already here.”
“Messina wins.”
It echoes.
No cheers.
No applause.
Just silence.
A silence heavier than blood.
Cillian lies there, chest rising shallowly, jaw slack. His team doesn’t even move. The Irish stare like the war was won here tonight and they weren’t the victors.
I don't move. I can't. My whole body is a scream held inside my skin. My arms are trembling, legs threatening to give. But I won't fall. Not until they know. Not until they all see.
Then… a slow, singular clap.
I turn to see my grandfather making sure his clapping is echoing off the walls, my father joins him both with a smile showing off how proud they are, the son they trained is now the one who’s on top and no one is bringing him down.
Marco steps forward, fire in his eyes, pride in every beat of his hands, then Milo, then Rosa. Then it spreads like a storm breaking. The room erupts.
