Page 65 of House of the Iron Reaper

The crowd seems to realise it as well, because almost everyone falls into quiet.

“Ronan!” the doomkin repeats.

It has no mouth to speak of, but there is no doubt the voice comes from it. An almost perfect mimic of someone from the audience, indistinguishable from a person calling out. Ice creeps through my veins. Beside me, Novalie shudders.

Ronan has not moved. His hackles are up, the fur standing high on his back, but he only waits and watches. The doomkin takes another heavy step forward, and this time, a different voice echoes.

“Papa!”

It sounds like a small boy crying out.

Oh, no. My hand flies to my mouth.

Ronan snarls, his patience lost. He launches himself forward, pounding across the arena on all fours. The doomkin chitters, almost mockingly, and swipes out as Ronan leaps at it.

Ronan lets out a yelp that makes me jump to my feet as he tumbles into the ground. He rolls neatly and lands back on his feet, but dark blood is sprayed across the sand and matted to his fur.

“Saints, Ronan, be careful!” Deimos calls.

Both Novalie and Deimos are on their feet next to me as we press against the glass. I fight the urge to run down the steps and race into the arena, to help Ronan. The archers in the stands draw their bows.

Ronan circles the doomkin, dripping blood as he goes. He keeps his glowing eye pinned on the beast, snout drawn back in a snarl. The doomkin watches him.

“Papa! Help!”

Ronan snaps his jaws, but he does not take the bait this time. He keeps a careful distance. My heart aches thinking of what Ronan must feel, hearing his son’s desperate voice. An anger I have never felt before rushes up my chest.

“That bastard is cheating,” I protest, thumping a fist off the glass. “Cheating!”

“It is only using the weapons it has,” Cahir says with a shrug, and I am surprised by how much I want to slap him.

“Do not make me slap you,” Novalie warns, as if reading my mind. “Now is not the time. Ronan is in danger.”

Cahir makes a noncommittal noise, but I choose to ignore him. I focus on the fight. I focus on Ronan winning.

Ronan slowly stalks towards the beast. Two deep gashes run from shoulder to chest, but if he notices, he does not show it. The doomkin watches him closely as he creeps closer, head lowered and eyes bright.

As soon as Ronan is within reach, the doomkin lashes out again. It is quick as a whip, but Ronan is quicker, leaping at the beast before it can strike. He lands hard against its chest, knocking it back against the sand with a crunch of bone. The crowd cheers.

Ronan snaps at its neck, going for the kill, but the doomkin hooks a claw under Ronan’s jaw, pushing him away.

Ronan snaps and snarls, blood and drool flying, and sinks his teeth into the doomkin’s wiry arm. When the doomkin screams, it is a person's scream. I wince on instinct, and I feel Deimos flinch. Novalie looks unsettled at the sound.

Ronan does not let up, clamping his jaws down until he cuts clean through. With a wet snap and a spray of black blood, he tears the doomkin’s arm off and launches it in a soaring arc.

Towards us.

I yelp as it hits the glass with a wet squelch before falling down into the crowd, who cheer. I move to the side, looking around the smear of black blood.

The doomkin swipes at Ronan again, its desperation growing. Ronan catches its other arm in his maw before it can land a blow. In a blink, he rips it off. The doomkin lays helpless beneath him, two bloody stumps at its side.

The crowd explodes.

Ronan goes again for its throat but the doomkin curls its body up, wedging a clawed foot under Ronan’s stomach and pushing him off. Ronan lands on his feet in the sand, skidding slightly. The doomkin kicks out, scrabbling backwards without its arms. Ronan latches onto its ankle.

I watch, open-mouthed, as Ronan lifts up the doomkin by its ankle, whipping it overhead in an arc and slamming it down again. The ground cracks with the impact. Cahir curses and tuts. Ronan does it again as the doomkin flails, slamming it against the sand until its bones snap.

Only then does Ronan release it. Breathing hard, he climbs back on top of the beast, facing it down with a growl.