Chapter Two #2
‘I’ll get it in a minute,’ Rosary said, suddenly serious. ‘Has Lilion said anything to you about tomorrow’s fight?’
‘No. I don’t find out who I’m fighting until I’m in the pits.’ She frowned. ‘You know that.’
‘I know. I just… I heard some patrons talking today. About the fight tomorrow. Who you’ll be fighting. They seem to think it will be another fae. A fae male.’
Kyra scoffed. ‘Bullshit. It’s just speculation.’
Rosary remained sombre. ‘It didn’t sound like it.’
‘Who, then?’
An answering scowl. ‘Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just telling you what I heard.’
‘Trust me, I’m the only fae in Vrethian stupid enough to wind up in Avaldale’s fighting pits.’
‘I thought it might be your brother.’
The words almost cut the breath from Kyra’s lungs. ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘He’s gone. Dead probably.’
Oslan Daeiros. Her older brother who had run away from their ridiculous grand manor home in the Upper States three years before she had.
He’d been plagued by relentless grief after their parents’ murder, driven mad by anguish and never to be seen again. Kyra had tried to look for him, had snuck out of the manor more times than she could count to search the city, but what good was a thirteen year old girl in such a situation?
An even bigger hole had ripped in her heart with his leaving, already vast from the loss of their parents.
No last words spoken between them, no tender moments of farewell, nothing.
Left behind with one sister too young to understand, and the other too stuck in her own bitterness to offer any sort of consolement for her siblings.
Not to mention a grandmother that became more unbearably closed and emotionless than she’d been before.
For all the years that had passed, it was far easier to believe Oslan was dead, than to believe he had completely abandoned his younger sisters.
‘Even if it’s not him Ky-’
‘It won’t be.’
‘Even so… you’ve never fought another fae before.’ Kyra glimpsed the rest of the sentence on her face. It was true, she had only ever fought humans. But she was a prized champion. Lilion wouldn’t put Kyra in that kind of danger. She wouldn’t risk losing her.
Would she?
‘I can’t lose my streak now. They don’t call me Warrior-Queen of the Arc for nothing,’ Kyra joked in an effort to be nonchalant.
‘I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone call you that.’
‘Well they should start. Seven years of staying alive in this cesspit is impressive.’
‘That it is,’ a new voice in the room agreed.
Lady Lilion Perdy stood in the threshold of the door. She wore a sweeping elegant black corset dress and satin gloves. An expression of annoyance plastered her usually unreadable, pointed face.
Swiftly chugging the rest of her wine, Rosary attempted to depart without a fuss, but Lilion blocked her at the doorway. ‘This is my palace, Miss Talbot. My domain. If I catch you down here again, you can expect to be escorted out by the Union and tried for trespassing. Understood?’
Cool rage stole over Rosary’s face. Kyra held her breath, half expecting her to bite back. To her relief, she gave a curt nod. Seemingly satisfied, Lilion lifted her arm away.
Rosary peered back at Kyra before leaving and in that look alone Kyra knew she would receive an earful of choice words about Lilion later that night.
‘You should be resting,’ Lilion said scathingly.
Rosary being there had really riled her, it seemed.
‘I am,’ Kyra replied.
Lilion narrowed her eyes at the goblet in her hand. ‘Miss Talbot has quite an influence over you.’
‘She was just coming to congratulate me on a fight well won,’ Kyra lied.
‘And show you her spoils of the day, I assume?’ When Kyra didn’t reply, Lilion smiled. ‘As I said, this is my palace. Miss Talbot’s slight hand is not quite as inconspicuous as she believes it is. Out of respect for you, I have courteously turned a blind eye to it.’
Still, Kyra kept her mouth shut, though her pulse had increased tenfold.
Lilion Perdy was the Lady of Shadows, the unofficial Governor of Avaldale’s underground enterprise.
Wealthy beyond comprehension, with a name that everyone knew and even feared, she answered to no one.
Even the actual Governors of the city, a collection of insufferable men with too much power turned a blind eye when it came to the illegal activities happening in the Arc.
Likely because Lilion endorsed them heavily to keep their brown noses out of her business.
Kyra didn’t believe much in fate or destiny.
But it was somewhat fateful that Lilion, the only person in Avaldale with the power to protect her, had been the one to find her coiled under the Arc’s entrance in the freezing rain at sixteen.
Under Lilion’s protection, she was untouchable.
She had gifted Kyra a house in the city, worn down and infested with a mouse family, but it was hers by Lilion’s administration.
Even she did not invade Kyra’s privacy there.
Still with all that Lilion had done for her, Kyra did not like the woman. She respected her position, was even impressed by her unfaltering ambition, but never had she called her a friend. And never would she.
With simmering impatience, Lilion said, ‘I told you to make it last.’
Kyra sipped her wine. ‘I was getting bored.’
Lilion’s nostrils flared. ‘I do not care what you feel or think when you are in those pits. When I tell you to make a fight longer, you make it longer. If I tell you to kill within ten seconds, you do so. If I tell you to surrender and die, you do it. Are we clear?’
The empty threat almost made Kyra roll her eyes. She was used to them. But she caught herself, wanting the conversation over as swiftly as possible. ‘It won’t happen again.’
‘No,’ Lilion said. ‘It won’t.’ Silence ensued, and Kyra refused to be the one to break it. She drank her well earned wine and waited. ‘Tomorrow’s fight will be different.’
There it was. Feigning her ignorance, Kyra asked, ‘How so?’
Lilion did not even bother looking remorseful. ‘You will be fighting another fae.’
‘I see. I bet those odds are exciting.’
‘Does it matter? If you win this, you truly will be Warrior-Queen of the Arc.’
She should have been embarrassed, but instead Kyra smirked. It had a nice ring to it, especially hearing it from someone else’s mouth, even if Lilion was humouring her. ‘When I win,’ Kyra corrected her.
Something malicious glinted in Lilion’s dark eyes.
It might have been pride but Kyra doubted very much the woman had ever been proud of anything but herself in her life.
Her voice dropped to a low murmur. ‘I want you to unleash everything you have tomorrow. Do not hold anything back. Let it out. Let it go and destroy him. Do you understand?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Good. Now go home. Rest. Do not drink anymore and do not let Miss Talbot in. Not until tomorrow’s fight is done.’
Kyra nodded her understanding, but proceeded to lift the goblet to her lips. Lilion’s magic shot through the room and knocked it from her hand before it could even touch her mouth.
Irritation rapidly rose, but she forced her voice to remain calm as she said, ‘One more drop wouldn’t have hurt.’
‘Do not test me, Kyra,’ Lilion warned. ‘Go home.’
Without another word Lilion left, taking the decanter of wine with her and leaving Kyra alone in the chamber, wondering if her seven year winning streak was about to come to a bloody and violent end.