Blood flows freely as it breaks, and I follow through with another blow to his eye, this time targeting his left.
With the rapid swelling, he’ll be blind in a few seconds. Until that happens, I exhaust him by blocking his blows, and eventually he steps back, chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath.
“You done?” I ask, squinting at him with my one good eye.
He’s getting tired, I can tell. But his pride is bigger than his brain.
He spits, blood, saliva, and a few shards of teeth, collecting in the dirt as he shakes his head.
“You wish,” he growls.
I shrug and chart my path forward.
He grunts, “Oof!” as my shoulder connects with his stomach, and his elbow comes down over my head, striking me repeatedly. But my wolf absorbs the pain, feeding on it to push on.
Gravel crunches beneath my weight as I lift him from the earth and plant him on his back.
With my right hand, I pin him down, and with my left, I drive him into submission.
In the crowd, someone is cheering my name, probably V or Mother. But I’m not thinking about them. At this point, I’m not even thinking about Adrian. All I’m thinking about is her.
The look on her face as I pulled her out of the mud.
The unshed tears as she saw herself reflected in the blood and broken bone.
The frantic thump of her heart as the walls of the archive closed in on her.
It is all I see as my fist meets Adrian’s face over and over again. And with every blow, cousin Adrian looks less and less like cousin Adrian and more and more like Oliver St. Grey.
“You broke her!” I growl.
But Adrian doesn’t say anything. He can’t. The blood is already pooling in his throat.
I bring my fist down on his face until his body goes limp, at which point Mother’s voice rings out from the crowd, declaring me the champion.
No one cheers as I stand, and no one comes to collect Adrian. The crowd simply disperses in silence, heading back toward the manor as I turn for the stables.
Behind me, quiet footsteps follow, but I ignore them.
My head hurts, and my ears are ringing. My jaw is definitely broken, maybe my left eye socket too. I’m not sure. But I need to sit down, and I can’t do that in front of the family.
I keep my chin high and my shoulders back as I cross the grounds, but as the stable doors close behind me, I am suddenly aware of every aching part of me, down to the throbbing in my teeth.
“Oh, fuck…” I groan, leaning up against an empty stall.
“Nicely done,” a voice calls from the doorway.
I don’t open my eyes to watch Mother slink into the room. I’m too busy trying to get my jaw back into place so the healing will kick in.
“Slow down next time,” she directs. “Let them see how painful it can be.”
I groan. You’d think there wouldn’t be a next time, considering they never win.
“Sure,” I mutter, doing my best not to move my mouth too much.
Mother’s hand comes around mine, planting my dampener back in my palm.
“Do not be long,” she says. “Or they will talk.”
