Chapter 8
The doors to the meet room opened as we approached.
The tables that had been set up for the feast had all been removed.
At the end of the room, Doran sat between her consorts on the dais, elevated above the cobblestone floor.
With the tables gone, I could see faded bloodstains on the old floor.
This obviously wasn’t the first battle to take place in the unassuming hall.
On either side of Doran were two identical sets of seating, each with three chairs.
Dema was already in her seat to Doran’s right and dressed much like me, but her leathers were white.
I guessed she intended not to spill any blood on them.
Her shirtless blond and Kendrick were sprawled in their chairs on either side of her. The chairs to Doran’s left were vacant.
So, there was more to this show than just the battle. It was a display to prove that I’d not chosen a consort. That I’d not come into my full powers yet. Doran followed the direction of my gaze and nodded in agreement with that assessment.
All the guests were now standing along the walls, still in their finery.
The crowd looked bigger than it had earlier.
I strode as confidently as I could to my seat, and Manus moved to stand behind me.
The chairs to my sides stood glaringly empty.
Tynan stood close but not on the platform.
I could feel him there but didn’t risk looking at him for fear of losing my composure.
Doran stood. All whispers came to a stop.
“This is the first contest to determine the next High Priestess, to prove birthright. I had hoped we would not start the rituals until closer to the correct moon phase, but so be it.” She paused, her displeasure clear.
“The prophecy lives. The daughters of Trevina will prove their worthiness, their strength, and their cunning in battle. Agnus the Betrayed foretold the coming of the twins, and the ritual of birthright has been called for the first time in many generations. It is an important time for all Kith. May the Goddess bless these two Witches with her strength and wisdom.”
She turned her attention to us. “The rules of the battle are very simple,” she said, facing Dema.
“You are to fight until one of you is completely disarmed. This is not a duel to the death. No magic is to be used. Understood?” As she sat back down, her gown gathered gracefully at her feet.
She’d never had to complete a ritual like this.
No. She’d inherited her position when our mother died.
Feldema leaped to the floor, her movements abrupt and choppy in her haste.
I assessed the crowd, got up slowly, and tried to look as unimpressed with her as I could.
My unhurried, calm appearance was making her mad.
Her eyes narrowed, jaw tightened—and that was just what I wanted.
She bowed deeply as I came face-to-face with her.
The room was absolutely silent as I returned the gesture.
As soon as my face was up, she caught my jaw with a fast right hook.
Reeling from shock, I spun backward from the blow but managed to draw one of the short daggers as I righted myself.
She was fast but I recovered before she lunged at me with a swipe of her short blade.
I jerked to the right and she missed. I gave her a mean blow to the face from my elbow as she passed.
She spun around and spat blood from her busted lower lip. Her eyes were burning with anger. With more bravado than I felt, I winked at her to rub it in. Those cold, steel-blue eyes connected with mine for a silent moment of blame before she lunged at me with a high-pitched scream.
I was easily able to get out of the way and followed her around as she passed, gouging her shoulder with the dagger.
She shrieked again, not from pain but anger.
She kicked backward, hitting me square in the stomach and knocking me off my feet.
When I hit the ground, she threw herself on top of me, driving her blade into my side while forcing her knee into my pelvis.
The cold sting of steel slicing through skin was more shocking than Manus could have ever prepared me for.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes against the nauseating pain taking over my mind.
She twisted the shaft. Instinctively, I reacted to the additional pain by circling my leg over her head and striking her across the face with my knee.
The force sent her tumbling. She lost one of the blades from her sheath in the roll.
“Oohs” and “ahhs” drifted from the onlookers.
I stood holding my side as she tried to right herself.
Her second blade was still in my side, stuck in the skin and protruding from my back.
I grabbed the handle and pulled it out. I felt the warmth of my blood running down my hip as I tossed the blade to the ground.
It skidded across the cobblestone floor and stopped just in front of Kendrick. Four to two—my favor.
She attacked again, bending and grabbing me around the waist, squeezing the wound in my side as we fell to the floor.
I cringed but wouldn’t give her the pleasure of screaming in pain, as I knew she wanted.
In the struggle, she plucked the remaining short blade from its sheath on my thigh and threw it before I could knock her off.
It was a coward’s way to disarm but she’d taken it.
“Easy way out, sis?” I asked as I got back to my feet.
There were more rumblings from the crowd.
She growled and charged. I spun and hit her in the face with a roundhouse-style kick before she could reach me, cutting her forehead with my boot heel.
Blood from both her mouth and the new cut streaked down her face and dripped onto her white leathers.
She stood staring at me, obviously shocked.
I took the opportunity to go on the offensive.
She jerked away from my blade, but I elbowed her hard in the stomach with my left arm.
As she doubled over, I brought my knee up.
It connected squarely with her face. The satisfying blow was hard enough to launch her to her back.
Her head smacked the cobblestones with a low thwack, knocking her out cold.
I walked over and stood above her, kicked her lightly on the thigh to make sure she was completely out, and then leaned down and removed her other blades, tossing them to the side.
I stood tall, making eye contact with as many members of the Kith as possible as I turned to Doran.
Our gazes held as I dropped to one knee.
Blood dripped from my side, soaking through the leathers, down my leg and into my boot.
The wound was bleeding freely, leaving a small puddle on the tile.
Kendrick’s face was so tight I thought his skin would tear. “So you fight like a man—is that why you can’t get one for your bed?” he hissed.
I reached down and grabbed hold of Feldema’s white leather shirt, soaked with blood that had dripped from her face. I dragged my half-sister’s unconscious body to her consort. “You have no need to concern yourself with my bed.” I dropped her at his feet.
“I would not dirty myself with a human the likes of you,” he said quietly as I walked away.
The comment made me mad. I’m not truly sure why, but it did.
I was part human, after all. I still had the adrenaline rush going, and the jerk had attacked me with the intent to kill the day before.
I turned back and marched right up to his face.
“Then dirty yourself with this!” I flipped my fingers, splattering his face and shirt with Dema’s blood, and turned away again.
The whole room gasped and then went silent.
That can’t be good.
“I’ll take that challenge, Keena, Priestess of the Wild.” When I looked back at him, Kendrick bowed deeply to me.
“You will not!” Manus rushed toward Kendrick only to be held in check by Tynan. “She knows not what she challenged!”
Kendrick tilted his head and gave an evil smile to Manus, then turned and bowed to Doran. “Her ignorance is of no matter to me. She made the challenge, and I accept.”
I watched them argue as the blood was draining from my side. I was tired, faint.
Bevin came to my side and slid her arm around me to keep me standing. “No!” Manus shouted.
“I am sorry, Manus…but I am bound by the rules of the council.” With a solemn face, Doran turned to leave.
Manus picked me up and carried me to a small room not far from the meeting hall.
He set me in a chair. “I’ve told you to hold your tongue time and time again, Keena!
” He was angry, and if my wound hadn’t stung so much, my feelings might have been hurt by his tone.
Besides, I really didn’t know what I had done.
Bevin was tending my side and saying her incantations as fast as she could. She had tears welling up in her eyes. That, more than anything, sent a chill of fear through me. I didn’t think that the ever-bubbly Bevin could cry. She got mad, sure. But I was concerned with the tears.
I was about to ask what exactly I had managed to do when Doran flung the door open. “What have you done, Keena? What have you done?”
I looked up from my side and Bevin. “That was my question.”
“You offered to allow Kendrick to avenge Feldema’s defeat,” she said, pacing behind me.
Bevin broke out into sobs but kept murmuring her healing spells.
“Oh. Shit.” I was hardly in any shape to fight a Vamp. In top form, I couldn’t best a Vamp without magic. “Did anyone tell me about this particular rule? I think I would have remembered this one.”
Tynan stormed through the door, stopping when he spotted me. He shook his head and knelt in front of me.
“I will fight Kendrick for you.” He took my bloody hands in his. Those dark eyes burned in anger.
“You are not her consort, so you can’t.” Manus couldn’t seem to look at me. He spoke instead to the wall. I could hear from the rasp in his voice he was terrified.