Chapter 33 Ivy
Ivy
The smell of blood, sweat, and ash coated my tongue when we entered what the demon called the Pit.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected when the words left his mouth, but it wasn’t a small stadium with a packed earth ground and a barrier between the arena and the hundreds of gathered soldiers cheering for what was coming.
I couldn’t fight against the soldiers carting me into the Pit.
I somehow kept the giant bear shifter and my Old World mate in the periphery of my vision, never taking my eyes off them as they were dragged towards the arena.
They were both collared and chained, being held by at least a dozen soldiers each.
Part of me considered searching the sea of faces for Hawk. I wondered if he was nearby watching all of this unfold. If maybe he felt anything for what was happening right now.
But I couldn’t tear my eyes from the two males being thrown in the arena.
My mate stumbled across the earth with a growl as the chains dragged him to one side of the ring into a cage. There was blood on his teeth, matting his fur, too. What’d happened for him to end up in a cage? He’d been with Dante one moment, and then…
I eyed him for any sign of injury, but I couldn’t see anything with how low the lights were.
What had he done to betray his position with Dante?
The bear, Thor, was dragged to the other end of the arena and into his own cage. He was quiet, stiff. It was like he’d done this a thousand times before. And maybe he had. It appeared as though the soldiers were used to whatever game the demon was playing. They enjoyed it.
“This will be a fight to the death!” I flinched at the sound of the demon’s voice, curling in on myself at the resounding cheers that followed. For the first time since entering, I dragged my stare from the two creatures and finally took a chance to look around the rest of the huge space.
It was like we were in a cavern of sorts, which only made me believe further that we had to be in the mountains.
The Luna Court was mostly mountainous, with forests that were so ancient, most hadn’t been explored.
Somehow, Dante had carved out an entire underground compound, maybe using the old temple as part of his hideout.
With the pressure building in my belly, and the panic growing in my chest, more now than ever, I knew.
I had to escape.
And I had to find a way to get the others out with me. The Primal. Hawk, as much as I hated it. Even Thor, who appeared resigned to his fate. He didn’t deserve to be Dante’s. And for some reason, I couldn’t leave him behind. Something within me recoiled at the thought.
Maybe it was just knowing he didn’t deserve what was happening to him. None of the shifters did.
But for some reason, I couldn’t let him go.
A sharp tug on my chains drew me out of my thoughts. My gaze flickered over to the two guards who dragged me towards my newest cage. Apparently, Dante didn’t have a shortage of them. Especially ones designed for me. At least this one had a chair.
The false king himself sat upon a throne beside the new cage overlooking the entirety of the Pit. His eyes were on me, and I couldn’t stop myself from meeting his gaze. There was none of that rage from before.
Instead, there was amusement. Sadistic amusement, and that familiar flicker of insanity that came from the skull. His eyes flashed silver, and suddenly I was shoved inside the cage without so much as a word from either the guards or Dante.
The sound of the door slamming shut echoed through the arena. I hadn’t noticed the silence until now, too focused on Dante to care. But now, it was obvious. Stifling.
Dante, however, chuckled, clapping his hands as he settled back in his plush throne. “Let the entertainment begin!” he shouted, the sound so different to how the demon carried himself.
The demon was cruel in the way he spoke. So obviously vile and unsettling.
Dante was almost charismatic, smarmy. When he smiled, you could see the wicked glint in his eyes that told you that what was going to happen wouldn’t end well for anyone, but you still followed him anyway.
The demon might have been unsettling in his need to extract pain, but Dante was clever, and his cruelty came through quietly. Without needing to be broadcast.
Around us, there was a flurry of movement. Chains clinked, beasts roared, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the false king.
As if sensing my stare, he finally met my gaze. “How are you feeling?” he asked, eyes flickering down to my stomach. “You were fat before, but I think you might actually start showing soon. Twins have that effect.”
Bile rose in my throat, a familiar light-headedness crashing into me. It wasn’t even the fact that he called me fat—growing up the way I did, you got used to it. You rolled your eyes and moved on. But it was the mention of twins that had me wanting to throw up.
“Why?” I finally managed, swallowing hard. “Why did you want me pregnant?”
Dante laughed, the sound jarring. “Why do you think I wanted that?”
“Because I heard someone mention Marion. She was the healer who was brought in to help my mother.” My hands formed fists as a smile curled his lips. “She worked for you. She didn’t give me my birth control, did she?”
This laugh was different to the last one. It was dark, twisted, and the look in his eyes only confirmed it.
“I didn’t ask her to do it,” he admitted, leaning towards me.
“But she certainly gave me something valuable. See, one of those little creatures growing inside you belongs to my brother. I don’t know which one—the Seer made sure of that.
Fuck, I don’t know how she did it, but the charms she placed on you were expert level.
Old as hell, too. No idea where she got them, but she managed to hide the babies from me, you, and your mates.
” He shook his head, sitting back, but my heart only sank.
“Why?” I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Couldn’t bring myself to trust him, either.
Dante shrugged, but he didn’t drop my stare. “Look, I’m as surprised as you, and she won’t talk. The only thing I could do was unravel those charms. Aren’t you at least happy to know you’re having his baby?”
“Not now,” I replied honestly. “Especially because I won’t live to see them grow, will I?”
“Ah!” He sat up, finally tearing his eyes from mine. Some of the pressure I’d felt dissipated, but not enough for me to breathe easily.
I watched closely as Dante bent over and grabbed something from the other side of the throne. At first, it looked like nothing important. Maybe a pile of cloth or something.
But then he tossed it at me through the bars of the cage. Out of instinct, I flinched away from whatever it was, which fell at my feet. All he did was laugh.
I finally looked away from Dante, heart pounding, to take in the item. It was wolf stuffy.
“You’ll live long enough to give birth, I can promise you that. Even hold them.” I tore my eyes from the small wolf to see Dante smiling. “Hell, I’ll even let you name them.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said, throat tightening. “How considerate.”
Something that resembled rage flickered in his eyes. That unhinged anger I’d heard from him before simmered close to the surface, but it couldn’t just be because I was mouthing off.
“One of those babies is going to be given back to your mates as a peace offering. The other will join the breeder room to be raised for my army. If they go against me again, I’ll kill it.”
There was nothing left to say. He didn’t even need to tell me who the other baby belonged to. There was only one reason why he’d keep one of my children to join his army.
Elias.
I was forced to watch a few rounds of fighting between other shifters. These weren’t fights to the deaths. They were cage fights; tearing at one another until one went down, and then they were removed.
At some point, even the soldiers got in the ring.
But my mind was on Dante’s words.
He hadn’t planned for my pregnancy. I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse. Maybe Marion planned it as some sort of gift for him. He sure as hell liked it. Made certain he could still use the twins as leverage and steal my power.
I was terrified to even think about what he could do with them. I might not be happy about having this forced upon me, but I would not let him take them.
Goddess dammit, I thought, tears burning my eyes. My nose was snotty with the tears I tried to hold back, but at least I couldn’t smell the blood anymore.
“My king, we have a…situation,” someone said, appearing behind my cage. From the corner of my eye, I watched Dante sit up straight, a growl leaving his lips.
“What?” he snapped, turning to whoever had approached. I tried to catch sight of the creature, but they’d moved to the other side of the throne.
Even though they spoke quietly, I could still make out their words over the hum of activity throughout the Pit. “The half-Fae wants to fight,” the interloper murmured. “He put his name in the pool.”
Dante cursed, hands forming fists, but he didn’t make a move to jump off his throne. “Let him fight. But tell his opponent to let him win. His mind has been tested. My hold on him is tenuous at best.”
“Don’t you want me to take him out of here?” the other creature asked, clearly confused by Dante’s actions.
I had to assume the half-Fae was Hawk. Why else would Dante care? He’d wanted Hawk on his side for a while—though, I still wasn’t sure why. To my knowledge, Hawk wasn’t obviously powerful in any special way that was different. Unless there was something about his demon side I didn’t know about.
You don’t know anything about his demon side, I reminded myself.
All I knew was that he was half demon. Nothing about his House, or the power they wielded.
I did remember the strange power he’d wielded while fleeing the safe house, how he’d taken out a Fae chasing us during the escape without moving a muscle.
I hadn’t really noticed his power then. Hadn’t known what to look for, or how to read the parts of him that’d been Fae or demon.
“Let him fight,” Dante replied, sitting back in his throne. “I want to see what he’s capable of. And I want to know why he wants to be in the ring.”