Chapter 38 Devora #2
It was disgusting. It was heartbreaking. It was the worst thing I’d ever seen in my life. And I couldn’t so much as show a hint of my true feelings.
“Ah,” Scarven said, his features lifting. “My prized possession.”
I tried to get a better view of the next fighter being brought to the stage.
It was a girl—a woman, maybe a couple years younger than me, although with how pale and emaciated they all looked, it was hard to tell.
Her hair was braided down one side, with streaks of dirt and red intertwined with the blonde strands.
It highlighted her sharp cheekbones and even sharper jaw.
There was something familiar in the look on her face. The way she held her chin slightly raised despite the jeers from the crowd, the way her eyes glinted when they swiveled my way.
Dark gold, burning eyes.
But still, there was something…
The second fighter made his way onto the stage.
He was huge. Easily three times her size, with his bare chest and arms shredded in muscles.
A necklace of teeth hung from his neck. But the most terrifying part was his head—as he lumbered into the arena, it shifted from human to bear, his wide maw roaring and exposing sharp teeth.
“Is she supposed to fight him?” I asked in disbelief.
Scarven shot me a smirk. “Just wait, love.”
The woman didn’t even look scared. She didn’t look much of anything. She stared at her opponent with a blank expression. He roared again—to the delight of the crowd—and cracked his knuckles, but she merely shifted on her feet.
When the announcer yelled for the fight to begin, I was actually nervous. I chewed on the edge of my fingernail, anxiety twisting in my gut for this woman I didn’t even know.
The bear Shifter lunged, and I flinched.
But the woman evaporated into thin air. She must be a Strider.
Scarven glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, then tugged on my waist to reposition me in front of him. “Do you feel that?” he murmured in my ear. “The excitement, the anticipation, the hint of danger?”
I shivered against my will. I kept my attention focused on the fight, and not his hands hovering at my waist.
The woman was quicker than I gave her credit for. She moved out of reach of the Shifter’s attacks with ease, and after the fourth time, the bear Shifter pounded on the floor with his fists. Spit flew from his mouth as he roared, but she looked as bored as ever.
He was getting smarter, though. Instead of hurling his entire body at her, he tried little jabs here and there, using both hands and feet to distract her.
When he landed his first kick to her ribs, the crowd cheered.
He aimed a punch to her other side when she turned, but right before he made contact, she sank into a cloud of shadows billowing at her feet.
My own shadows pulsed in my chest as my eyes widened. “Did she just—”
Darkness swirled at the base of the bear Shifter’s shadow, and suddenly, a crack of lightning boomed in the air. From his shadow came a bright whip that snapped at his ankles. He whirled around with a yelp, and the woman emerged from the swath of shadows, holding a lightning whip.
I blinked. Was that possible? Could she be a Strider, Shadow Wielder, and Lightbender?
The Shifter grabbed the whip around his ankles, yanking it from her grip. Blood trickled from his hands where the light had cut his skin, but they healed within seconds. He staggered backward before finding his balance and squaring up to face her again.
I sucked in a breath as she darted forward, but…she didn’t attack him. She leaned down and dipped her fingers into the trail of his blood.
She lifted his blood to her mouth. I couldn’t hear her over the cacophony of the spectators, but her lips moved swiftly, words flying off her tongue. I’d only ever seen Alchemists do something like that.
Fire erupted at the bear Shifter’s feet. Vines appeared from nowhere and spiraled around his limbs, making him unable to do anything but thrash around in the flames. He fell to his knees and tried to roll away, but the fire followed him.
Was she casting some sort of spell?
An icy numbness slipped from my spine all the way to my feet, coating my insides with horror.
Strider. Shadow Wielder. Lightbender. Alchemist. Four of the six magics.
A memory came back to me, Nox’s voice echoing in my mind. “She has all six. All six magics of the Veridian Empire.”
My breaths came faster as the flames consumed the Shifter, his wails mixing with the scent of charring flesh. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t possibly be—
The woman looked straight at me.
Or rather, above me. At Scarven’s head mere inches behind mine. I glanced up and saw him give her a single nod.
She looked back to her victim and cocked her head. With one final word from her blood-streaked lips, there was a crack.
The Shifter’s neck snapped to the side, and he went quiet. The crowd was wild, their cheers so loud they shook the ground.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Scarven asked, close enough that his words reached me through the noise. “A stunning weapon. The only one of her kind.”
I swallowed a heavy lump in my throat, trying to keep my voice steady. “It—it looks like she has many powers.” I was hoping, praying, pleading it wasn’t her. Anyone but her.
“You have no idea, love,” he rumbled. “No one has ever possessed all the powers of our empire. She’s our champion.” The pride in his voice made me sick. “Defeats every challenger she has ever faced.”
My heart dropped like a stone. It was her.
It was Nox’s sister.
Everything around me felt too hot and close, pushing against me from all sides. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Nox what I’d seen. That his sister was forced to fight in this revolting showcase, that she’d been turned into a weapon of destruction that murdered his other subjects for sport.
I closed my eyes. I had to remember where I was. Who I was supposed to be. I could spiral later—right now, I needed to be intrigued. Scarven’s little lamb, thrown into the deep end and learning to swim. His new project.
The crowd was beginning to die down, shouts turning to animated conversations as they discussed the fights and exchanged money.
That must’ve been the last fight of the night, for more bodies started working their way to the exits lining the dome.
Scarven kept a hand planted on my back as he guided me to the tunnel we’d come from.
I licked my lips. “She was incredible. How did you make her like that?”
“This one was actually born that way, if you can believe it.” We entered the dark tunnel, and the sounds of the fighting ring faded behind us.
“She’s been with me since birth. I’ve trained her to answer only to me.
” His features were smug, a dangerous gleam in his black eyes.
There was this wild energy around him, as if the fighting matches had given him a high.
“She’s powerful. Her blood is the perfect test for our trials, since it allows my Alchemist to see the effects on each magic type all in one. ”
It took every ounce of control not to shudder at his words. The perfect test. How could I tell Nox? The torture she had to go through, the mind control he inflicted on her…it was too much.
But she’s alive, a quiet voice in the back of my mind reminded me.
She was alive, and she was here. That was more information than the Ashen Order had before. Maybe I could use this.
I paused mid-step, making Scarven stop and raise an eyebrow. I opened my mouth as if I wanted to say something, then bit down on my bottom lip in fake hesitation.
“What is it, love?” he purred, taking a step closer. “Is this too much for you?”
“No, I just—” I let out a small laugh and leaned my back against the tunnel wall. “Have you ever tried these…tests on someone like…like me? Someone without magic?”
He blinked, then his lips curved into a dark smile. “Is someone a little curious?”
I flicked my tongue along my bottom lip, and his eyes tracked the motion. Lowering my voice, I said, “What if I was?”
He laughed, a low, thunderous rumble that sounded like a threat. My heart beat rapidly in my chest, sensing the danger in his proximity. But I held my ground. I was so close to something more. Something we could use.
“We haven’t been able to test that theory before. There aren’t many creatures without magic like you running around here.” His thumb brushed my jaw, and I forced myself not to cringe. “But I have something new I’ve been working on.”
“Can I see it?” I whispered.
He laughed again. “You really are a curious thing, aren’t you? What was that you once told me?” His gaze pinned me to the wall. “I could be convinced.”
His breath smelled like rancid wine. The feel of him crowding around me on all sides made my hand ball into a fist so hard, my nails dug small crescent moons into my palm.
I knew what he meant. What a man like him wanted. And if I wanted to help all those innocent people, I didn’t think I had a choice.
I steeled my spine and closed my eyes, tilting my head up to press my lips to his.
For someone who spoke of taking what they wanted, Scarven was surprisingly meticulous. He moved like he expected this—like he planned for it. One hand came to the back of my neck, angling my head up almost painfully far as he kissed me.
I fought the urge to recoil when his hand wrapped around my hair. I winced as he tugged harder, the force pushing my back further into the wall. Rough edges of rocks dug into my skin through my shirt. My palms lay flat against the stone, my nails grasping at it as if I could claw my way out.
Not for the first time, I realized how alone we were in this tunnel. How far we were from either exit.
My heart pounded faster in fear. I thought back to that night in Nox’s tent, the way he’d lost control and pinned me to the floor.
Even with the hint of a lethal dragon in his eyes as he’d caged me in, I’d felt no fear.
I’d never been afraid of him. The most powerful creature in this empire, and I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
I wish he were here.
The thought of Nox made the pressure in my chest peak. Panic crawled up my throat as I struggled to get breath in my lungs. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t—
I broke away, panting, using all my willpower to stop my body from shaking. I opened my mouth when Scarven’s thumb came up to press into my bottom lip.
“As much as I want to continue this,” he murmured, eyes hooded, “there are things I must see to after the fights.” Straightening the collar of his shirt, he took a step away and cracked his neck, slipping back into his composed persona.
“My men will be waiting for you at the entrance of the tavern to take you back to the manor.” He wrapped a hand around the side of my neck, pressing his thumb into the column of my throat. I held my breath, not daring to move.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Selena.” He turned on his heel and strode back down the tunnel.
I waited until I could no longer hear his footsteps before I sank to the ground and buried my head in my hands.