I’d never felt this before. But the last time I’d been through the gates was the last time they opened, and I had been unconscious, bleeding from the wounds carved by Tsal-mawet.
I knew what I had to do, but my chest squeezed for what it’d do to them. The last thing they needed was more pain.
“Princess,” Ichi whispered, reminding me why we were here.
I turned, and we got to digging.
My arms ached and shook by the time we finished the trenches. Mud coated my boots and ran up my legs. The damp night air crawled down my neck, making me wish I were back in bed curled up with Ronen.
“Your turn,” I said to Ichi, throwing down my shovel.
She sent water rushing through the giant pentagram, and I took out a knife, muting the bond and cutting my palm. I squeezed my bloodinto Ichi’s water, watching the red flow through the six-pointed star. Then I squeezed it into all six runes. Once I felt like there was enough blood, I froze Ichi’s water, and the blood pentagram was made.
Now all that was left was to cover it.
We patted down the mud, then luscelered back to the castle without a word. Inside the arena, I stopped Ichi before she returned to the barracks.
“There’s one more thing.”
She waited.
“There will come a point where I’ll need you to do whatever I say, no matter what you see. No doubts. No questions.”
Ichi stared at me in that quiet, knowing way of hers, and I swore she knew what I was up to. She bowed.
“It would be my honor.”
When she straightened, her one honey eye carrying the same solemn weight as her tone, I had to ask, “Why?”
She nodded to the dragon necklace peeking from my uniform. “My soul, my power, and my will all rest with you.”
This time, I bowed to her, overcome with boundless gratitude and warmth. It hummed through me, a quiet resonance—soft, sweet, and whole, as if my body remembered a melody my mind had yet to learn. It was the only appropriate response, and when I rose, I knew it held more meaning than I could ever comprehend.
Both of her eyes glistened with disbelief, a small smile curving her lips. But it wasn’t just disbelief at my action. It was the clarity and color that had returned to Ichi’s blind eye. Even the burn marks marring the side of her face had healed. In the eyes of whatever power still lingered in this circle, Ichi’s soul was ready to be redeemed.
And yet she wouldn’t be.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Don’t,” I said sadly.
We both knew the only person with the power to send her soul anywhere else was the one we had to kill.
Ronen
I woke up to a cold bed, her supple body no longer pressed into mine. I’ll admit it was the worst way to wake up. But falling asleep had never been easier. If she allowed it, I’d make her spend every night with me from now on.
There was the issue of Oliver. I wasn’t about group sleeping. Especially since what happened last night would be repeated frequently, if not daily.
The next thing I noted was that the other female in my life wasn’t in my bed either.
Rune?
She answered by opening the visual connection. They were in the arena. Her, my hellion, and Ichi.
They were both in full uniform, which didn’t present as odd in and of itself. But the mud on their boots, and how early it already was, made me suspicious.
The hellion shot a glance at Rune, whispered something I couldn’t catch to Ichi, and handed her eight envelopes.
