The bell had already rung.
It wasn’t until I was being pulled off him that my rage finally began to subside.
Standing half-dazed in the middle of the cage, I barely registered the Enforcer’s grin as he grabbed my right hand and raised it into the air.
“And our winner is—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the smile fell from his face. His brow furrowed, and his grip on my hand clamped down like a vise. His gaze turned murderous.
I didn’t understand what caused the change until I felt a warm trickle slide from my forehead over my temple and down my cheek.
“Black blood,” he snarled, his thin lips peeling back from his teeth in revulsion. “He’s got black blood,” he roared, using magic to project his voice throughout the room.
That’s when I snapped out of it and exploded into action.
Nellie was my first concern. I yanked my wrist out of his grasp, shoved him against the bars, and bolted for the open cage door. Nellie was already waiting for me. The second I stepped out, I held out my hand. Grasping it, she leaped onto my back, locking her legs around my hips and holding onto my neck with her good arm.
“Black bleeder! Ethereum demon!” someone spat.
Terror surged through me as I imagined them ripping Nellie off my back. I reached for my power, intending to clear a path, but horror swept over me when I found only a trickle of it.
My worst fears were confirmed. The time on the mountain wasn’t just a fluke. This realm was draining my powers or at least limiting them somehow.
As a fae lunged at us, I aimed my hand at him. A small black lightning bolt shot from my palm, striking his face. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as I’d hoped, but it was enough to make the crowd shrink back in shock and fear.
“He’s an Ethereum lord! Who else would have magic like that?” someone shouted, and half the crowd began to flee.
We had to get out of here, but I couldn’t leave without the prize.
Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted Malek on the other side of the fighting cage. He was still standing like a sentinel, holding the wooden box as chaos erupted around him.
I shoved through the remaining spectators, skirting the cage to reach Malek.
“We need to bring him to Queen Gloriana to take his heart!” a male shouted.
“He can stop the curse!” someone else yelled.
Fae began crowding around us again, but by then, I’d reached Malek.
“I earned that,” I said, nodding at the box in his hands.
Malek sneered, and sharp icicles began forming on the ends of his fingers. “Ethereum monsters earn nothing here,” he spat. With a flick of his wrist, one of the icicles shot from his hand and impaled me in the thigh.
Pain sliced through my leg as the crowd turned hostile.
It all happened so fast. One second, there was no one close by, and the next, we were swarmed. Hands grabbed at me, trying to pull me to the ground.
“Zane!” Nellie screamed as I felt her slipping off my back.
Praying to my ancestors, I gathered what little power I could and let it explode outward.
Like a bomb, black electric zaps erupted in every direction, stunning the mob and dropping them to their knees in pain.
It wasn’t deadly—I didn’t have enough power for that—but it was enough. Anyone struck by the blast was momentarily incapacitated, including Malek, who dropped the winnings.
Without wasting another second, I grabbed the box from the ground. Shoving it under my arm, I reached back to secure Nellie and ran for the exit, mowing down anyone in my path.
When I reached the stairs, I took them two at a time.
