Chapter Eighteen
Nina
After being cooped up for what felt like hours (maybe days, since I kept drifting in and out of sleep with no way to track time), I finally dragged myself into the shower.
I was covered in bruises, courtesy of Elise-the-wicked-one.
When I stepped back into the bedroom, towel wrapped around my body, my breath caught.
A large mass of swirling smoke was lounging across my bed.
Black wispy tendrils contorted into the vague shape of a body: long-limbed with its legs crossed casually, like it owned the place.
I could just make out the impression of a face, though every time I blinked, the features dissolved into plumes of smoke.
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “What are you doing here?”
“You seem irritable today,” the smoke rumbled.
“You don’t say?” My usual calm tone cracked, and sarcasm rolled off me. “Maybe it’s because I keep finding . . .” I faltered, searching for the right insult, but thought better of it. My hand flicked vaguely in his direction. “ . . .an unwanted guest in my chambers.”
The smoky form rose and glided closer, like a wave of storm clouds rolling in to engulf me.
He stopped a few feet away. It was a small relief.
He seemed harmless, but that was when the real monsters took you off guard then devoured you.
I looked up into the depths of his golden eyes, the only human part of this strange creature.
“I don’t even know what to call you.”
“You look pale,” he said stiffly.
Right, dodge the question. Must be a Hell specialty.
“I’m tired,” I muttered, pulling my towel tighter around my body. His concern prickled at my skin, leaving me uneasy.
“You haven’t left your room for a while.”
I scoffed. “Are you stalking me?” I wandered to the curtains and pushed them back. The merciless red sun of Hell glared through. It was the same as yesterday, and the same as tomorrow.
I turned back to him. “So, what are you doing here?”
“I came to talk.”
I barked a laugh. “Oh really? And what do we have to talk about?”
Monsters in Hell are well known for their honest conversation. Said no one ever.
He was silent for a beat, but his smoky form continued to swirl on the spot. “I was watching when that wretched soul stomped on your leg.”
Heat prickled up my neck. I tried not to flinch at the memory of Elise’s heel grinding into my brace, the crack reverberating through bone and metal.
“Why were you watching?” I shook my head, cutting him off with a bitter laugh. “Don’t answer that. Of course you were watching. You’ve been watching me since the night I died.” I exhaled hard. “It’s not a big deal. My brace has been broken before. I’ll fix it.”
Truthfully, my brace is past saving. Not that this monster needs to know.
“Why do you need it?”
My jaw tightened. “I was born with a crooked hip. Without the brace, the joint slips out. It keeps me on my feet. Doesn’t always keep the pain at bay, but we work with what we’ve got.”
“I could show you how to make a stirrup brace. Stabilise the hip and leg alignment. Reinforce the joint.”
I blinked at him, words failing. “You know how to do that?”
“Although you might not believe it, I was a human once before.”
I tried to visualise him with flesh instead of smoke, as a man rather than a monster. It was a difficult image to surface. He was too imposing and too bizarre, yet there was something there. A semblance of human compassion, perhaps . . . or a good imitation of it.
“I can’t picture it.”
“Well, I have not been my true self for a very long time.”
“What are you?”
He laughed softly. “I don’t think you want to know.”
I gave him a look that said I was entirely fed up with the cryptic answers.
“How about we make a deal?”
“What kind of deal?” I asked, sceptical, because surely nothing good ever came from bargaining with monsters.
“If you leave this room,” he said, “overcome this stupid fear you’ve latched on to, then I will tell you my true name.”
“That’s it? Just leave my room.”
“That’s all.”
“Deal.”
I looked into the depths of his golden eyes, and I swore there was triumph there. His form dissolved, the smoke slipping away through the floorboards.
Shit.
Now I had to leave my chamber or risk looking like a coward. So much for cutting a bargain for my benefit. I groaned and hauled myself to the wardrobe, muttering curses under my breath.
***
I lifted my chin as I entered the courtyard, determined not to show weakness. Without my brace, each step caused my hip to grind painfully into the socket. I gritted my teeth and refused to let the Thorns notice my limp or give Elise an opportunity to call me weak and broken again.
The fighters faced each other in two rows. Heads swivelled towards me with careful attention. Leander stood at the far end of the Thorns, and his gaze found mine. The corner of his mouth twitched into a slight smile.
He brought his hands together once and called, “Thorns. You can clear out for the rest of the day.”
A ripple of movement answered him, and the formation thinned until the courtyard belonged to only a few. Leander moved to stand in Elise’s path as she tried to edge away. “Not you,” he said. “We’ll need you for the tutorial.”
Elise lifted one brow, amused and impatient. “You want me to beat her again? Fine by me. But she’ll just fall and break like last time. She’s weak.”
I resisted the urge to shudder at that word.
Leander’s demeanour appeared unchanged, with relaxed shoulders and arms, but his voice fell flat. “Who said you were going to spar with the Champion?”
The amusement dropped from Elise’s face. “Then who?”
Leander strolled to the weapons along the far wall and casually grabbed a long sword.
“You?” She let out a nervous laugh.
“Never seen you afraid to fight, Elise.”
Some wicked part of me leapt at the sight of her distress.
But the part of me that still clung to Tobias and bore the burden of humanity was reluctant to let me enjoy it.
I felt uneasy watching her shrink back, even though she deserved it.
Because, as Leander lunged for her, bringing his sword down through the air like lightning, I realised she was no match for him.
He didn’t fight her the same way he had me, with a measured pace and half-held strikes.
No. He was instantly a thunderstorm, cutting through the stillness in unexpected bursts, his blade flashing in arcs too rapid to follow.
Elise struggled to maintain her balance, and his blows found her easily.
A slash across one arm, then the other, and scarlet flowed through the brown leather, staining it dark.
I caught myself wrapping my braid through my fingers, anxiety tightening in my chest as I watched strike after strike.
This didn’t feel like a demonstration. It most definitely was punishment.
Is Leander only doing this because of what Elise did to my leg?
His next cut caught her thigh. She screamed as the blood spurted out, spilling down her leg in rivulets, pattering against the dust. She dropped to her knees, hands clamped uselessly over the wound.
I moved to help her up, but she turned on me, blood on her lips as she spat across the stone.
“Back off. I don’t need your help.”
She rose, hauling herself upright, ready to face him again.
They fought on, but Elise’s movements slowed.
Each swing of her blade dragged sluggishly, her arms straining as she blocked the attacks, but many hit their mark.
Elise was a bleeding mess, and I couldn’t tell if I was delighted or distressed.
Leander’s sword caught her shoulder, tearing through the fastening at the top of her combat leathers.
A piece of metal snapped loose and skittered across the stone until it came to rest by my feet.
I bent to pick it up, turning it over my hand.
An intricate geometric pattern was carved into the metal.
It was aged, with rusted edges and deep scratches covering the piece.
My eyes flickered to the fight.
“Has the Champion stirred something inside you?” Elise rasped, blood flecking her lips. “Has the mighty Leander truly been undone by a weak, insignificant—”
Leander’s fist cut her words short. The blow landed square across her cheek, a crack that echoed through the courtyard.
“Get out of my sight,” he roared.
Elise wobbled, bloodstains and bruises covering her face, and stumbled towards the kitchen, half sprinting, partly falling to escape his fury.
Leander had already turned his back, retreating towards the weapon wall. His shoulders lifted and fell with each breath, the sound of steel sliding back into its place on its hooks.
I went after Elise through the kitchen. “Wait,” I called.
She twisted around at once. The blood on her face was dry and cracked, and a dark bruise already swelled beneath her left eye. Her teeth were smeared red when she bared them at me.
“You dropped this.” I held out the brooch, the fragment of armour that had broken free during their fight.
“Enjoy the show?” she hissed.
I gave her a pained look. “Not really.”
“You won’t last without a streak of viciousness.” She wiped blood from her nose. “Like I said, you’re weak. You haven’t got a chance against the demons of Hell, or The Cycle.”
“Maybe. But I’m still here, and I can learn to be vicious.”
Elise gave a low laugh. “We all fail, no matter how strong you think you are. Every soul that winds up in this hellscape loses. That’s their design.” She snatched the brooch from my hand and limped out of the kitchen, leaving a thin trail of blood across the stone.
I stepped back into the courtyard, and Leander was already waiting, his posture lazy but his gaze fixed on me.
“Are you quite ready to continue your training?”
“Uhm, y-yes.” My throat felt tight. He looked frightening.
“Now, I know you’ve got a bad hip to contend with—”
“I’ve managed with it my whole life,” I snapped. “I don’t need you telling me how to keep going.”