Chapter 3
Bressen
“Ajax.” I whispered the name.
I stood frozen as I took in the warrior across the pit from me. He and the other two warriors Cyra had freed from Praya’s necklace had gone their separate ways the day after Aramis’s funeral, and I hadn’t expected to see him again so soon. Certainly not here of all places.
Ajax’s close-cropped black hair had grown out a little since I’d last seen him.
His eyes looked milky from far away, especially against his mahogany skin, but I’d seen them up close, and he actually had white irises that were flecked with gold.
Only his pupils were black, but they got lost among the white of his eyes unless you were within a few feet of him.
He was in his human form with no wings, but I knew from seeing him and Samhail next to each other that Ajax was only an inch or two shorter than my friend, which still gave him almost half a foot on me.
He was also bulkier than Samhail, with muscles that were on full display across his shirtless torso.
I knew what it felt like to be hit by a gargoyle, and the idea of being hit by Ajax – who had no reason to go easy on me – made me shudder. One good punch would kill me. I was so very, very fucked.
The beating I was about to take was actually secondary to my more immediate concern, though. Ajax knew who I was, and indeed, he looked rather confused as he took a step forward.
“Lor-”
“Lysander,” I cut in quickly before he could call me ‘Lord Bressen.’ “My name is Lysander.”
“Lysander, meet Ajax,” Delia said, smirking so wide her face could barely contain it. Oh, she was going to enjoy watching Ajax pummel me.
The crowd had yet to curb its roaring, and I saw money changing hands furiously out of my periphery as patrons placed their bets on the fight.
Anyone who knew me had likely placed their wagers on me the last round, but I suspected even my most ardent supporters were taking Ajax in this fight.
Three hells, my own money would’ve been on him.
Four hundred years ago, he’d been considered one of the greatest mercenaries on the continent.
I could only hope he was out-of-practice after centuries of being trapped in a magical necklace.
Ajax and I stepped forward for our pre-fight meet, and I gave him a cold stare I hoped he could see past. He seemed to understand, because he answered mine with one of his own and crossed his arms menacingly over his huge chest. I crossed my arms as well, so we were the picture of two opponents unimpressed with each other.
“You were the last person I expected to see here,” Ajax said, just loud enough for me to hear over the din of the crowd. “What’s going on?” His casual tone belied the scowl on his face.
“Long story,” I said. “The short version is that I had a bad day.”
His head ticked to the side the slightest bit. “So how’s this going to go?” he asked.
“As a favor to Cyra, just try not to kill me,” I said.
He raised a brow. “You don’t think you can beat me.” An observation, not a question.
I chuckled. “Do you think I can?” But I didn’t let him answer. “I’m going to try, but I’ve fought Samhail before, and I’m realistic about how this is probably going to end.”
“Have you ever beaten him?”
“Only when he lets me.”
His brows arched a bit further. “I could try-”
“Barring a miracle,” I said, cutting him off, “no one here is going to believe I can beat you. Do what you have to do. Like I said, just-”
“Don’t kill you,” he cut in. “Got it. But only because I owe your wife for freeing me from four centuries of imprisonment and the promise of a gruesome death.” His eye twitched in a brief wink.
I stretched my neck so it cracked. “Then let’s do this.”
I turned on my heel and strode back to my side of the pit as the crowd thundered unrelentingly around us, oblivious to the perfectly civilized conversation that had just occurred in the center of the ring.
I looked at Delia, who was still grinning like someone had just made her queen of the continent. She mouthed the words ‘Have fun’ at me, then sounded the bell, and Ajax and I surged toward each other.
I dodged Ajax’s first swing and managed to get in under his arm to land a punch to his stomach before I danced backward.
Pain shot through my hand and halfway up my arm from the blow.
Ajax might not be in his gargoyle form, but I’d fought Samhail enough to know that gargoyle bodies were denser and heavier than normal human bodies.
Even so, Ajax’s body might as well have been stone for all the give his muscles had.
I charged again, feinted one way, then moved the other.
Ajax seemed to fall for it and swung at empty air while I landed another blow to his side, but I had a feeling he was going easy on me.
Still, if he was going to give me the openings, I’d take them.
I didn’t hold much hope I’d win this fight, but I was going to get in as many hits as I could.
I attacked again immediately, jumping up and swinging with a vicious roundhouse to Ajax’s head that was backed by the extra momentum of my leap.
He took the blow in the cheek, and it snapped his head to the side, but he recovered quicker than I expected, and a moment later my body left the ground as he picked me up and threw me across the ring.
Pain shot through my shoulder as I landed on it, but somehow I managed to roll and mitigate the rest of the impact. I looked up to find Ajax stalking toward me.
I guessed my grace period was over.
I sprang to my feet and charged him, staying low to plow into his stomach with my good shoulder. The move would have taken any other man to the ground, but it only caused Ajax to grunt and stagger back a couple steps, and I was grateful for that much.
Ajax brought his fists down on my back, and the breath punched out of me, first under his blow, then again as my body hit the hard-packed ground. I coughed into the dirt and tried desperately to draw in a breath.
Panic gripped me as Ajax grabbed me under the arms to pull me to my feet.
I brought my knee up hard into his inner thigh, and he flinched but didn’t let go.
It wasn’t against the rules for me to go for his groin per se, but the patrons here tended to see it as a cheap shot, and taking it wouldn’t put them on my side.
I also couldn’t bring myself to do that to another man, especially Ajax.
Not that it mattered. This fight was going to be over soon.
Just not yet.
I came up swinging and caught Ajax with a shot to his jaw that kicked his head back.
I got in two more head shots before I concentrated on his mid-section, throwing punch after punch into his stomach and sides.
He grunted and jerked as I hit him, but he stayed on his feet, not even swaying.
My hands were starting to go numb from the impact.
Ajax finally countered with a blow to my side that made me see stars and likely would’ve cracked a rib if I wasn’t used to taking such shots from Samhail. I tried to recover, but Ajax landed a fist straight into my gut that nearly made me heave up my last meal.
“Go down,” he whispered into my ear as I coughed and gasped.
“Take me down,” I countered when I had enough breath to speak. “I’m not going to do your job for you.”
I was being stupid, but taking a dive wasn’t in my nature. Ajax would win this fight, but gods damn me, I’d make him earn it.
“Stubborn bastard,” he muttered just before I landed another upper cut to his jaw that made his teeth clack together. He growled and spat blood onto the dirt, which only made me bolder.
I took him in the jaw again with my right hook – he was too tall for me to reach his temple with a good shot – but he answered with a jaw shot of his own that made me wonder if I’d ever chew properly again.
He pulled back his fist to swing, and I threw myself back from him.
If I hadn’t moved when I did, the punch likely would have knocked me cold.
As it was, I pulled back enough that he didn’t get a solid shot to my head, but not enough that I fully cleared his swing.
I felt the cheek bone near my orbital socket crack as his fist connected, and excruciating pain radiated through my head. The entire world went black – for how long I wasn’t sure – but when the arena rematerialized, I was on the ground, and I could only see out of one eye.
I lifted my head enough to see a puddle of my blood soaking into the dirt. I reached up, felt the wetness on my cheek near my eye, and prayed the only reason I couldn’t see out of it was that the blood was clouding my vision.
Large hands grabbed me and jerked me backward, and then I couldn’t breathe. I clawed at the iron arm wrapped around my neck, but it was no use. There was no way I was getting out of this headlock.
“You fought better than I expected,” Ajax said quietly, “but it’s time to end this before you get truly hurt and your wife incinerates me.”
Logically I knew this was for the best, but a deep-seeded instinct for self-preservation kicked in and made me keep fighting. I thrashed and kicked against Ajax’s hold until my body stopped responding to my commands and the world finally dissolved to black.
Bressen
I couldn’t see anything as I felt my eyes flutter wildly, struggling to open. They seemed glued shut, and I tried again as muffled conversation around me reached my ears. This time I got a quick, blurry vision of a well-lit room before my eyes snapped shut again.
“My lady! He’s waking.”
The voice was Ajax’s, and terror struck me at the idea Cyra was with us in Xerxes’s pit. I opened my mouth to tell her to go, but I couldn’t speak either. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t obey just yet.
“Bressen?” Cyra’s voice pierced my panic, but all I could do was shake my head weakly. She couldn’t be here. Ajax had to get her out.
“Bressen, can you hear me?” Cyra asked, fear in her voice.
“Cyra.” I forced the word out as I struggled to pry my eyes open. “You have to leave.”