The flame demi raises his hands, magic building to an inferno—

I throw.

The blade buries itself to the hilt in his neck. His eyes go wide with shock as the flame dies, and he falls to his knees in the sand, choking around the blade.

The shadow controller’s concentration wavers for a fraction of a second, and the dark tendrils loosen their grip. I wrench myself loose just as the last demi’s energy gathers in her hands.

“FINISH HER!”

She unleashes a wave of shadow. I dive behind the flame-wielder where he’s still scrabbling for my dagger lodged in his throat, using his body as a shield. Ice crystals form on my eyelashes. My breath comes out in white puffs.

But the fire demigod takes the brunt of the impact, flesh cracking under the onslaught of icy shadows.

Only the demigoddess is left now.

She’s gathering another blast—fuck that. I launch myself over the frozen corpse and drive my knife up and into her gut.

For a moment, our eyes lock. Her mouth opens and closes as blood spills over my hand.

“Should’ve worn armor,” I snarl as I twist the knife, yank it out, and plunge it right back in. And again, just to watch the light fade from her eyes.

When her corpse drops, I hunch over, breathing hard. Barely able to catch my breath without pain radiating through my ribs. The crowd’s angry roar barely penetrates the ringing in my ears.

I look up at Alexios on his dais.

“I won,” I shout up at him over the din. “I want Evander out of the cuffs. Now.”

He rises from his throne. Those red and black wings spread wide as he descends the steps to the arena floor. A hush falls over the crowd as they all watch their king step into the pit.

“You still have one final challenger,” he says, smiling slowly. “Me.”

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56

BRYONY

DID YOU REALLY think,” Alexios says, voice soft, “that I’d let you walk without testing you myself?”

Of course not. This was his plan all along, wasn’t it? I’d waived my protection in Scillari as the Wolf’s Chosen and agreed to face any challenger. Might as well have trussed myself up with a pretty bow and laid my head on the chopping block for him.

The crowd roars. Hundreds of voices howling for blood—my blood. They know I’m not walking away from a challenge with an Eternal. They’re going to watch me die, and they’re going to savor every second of it.

Evander hurls against his chains. Metal screeches. His wings spread wide, and power flares around him before the magic-suppressing shackles choke it down, again and again.

“Stop,” Alexios commands him. “You’re only hurting yourself.”

“Let her go.” Evander’s voice is ragged. “You agreed the trials had to be possible for a human to win.”

“I agreed my trials had to be possible to win. She asked for this one. Came up with it all on her own, in fact. I exploit loopholes, and your Chosen practically drew me a perfect map right to this moment.”

A calm settles over me as I catalog the damage from my previous skirmishes—the cuts and bruises, the exhaustion dragging at my limbs. Even if I could fight, it’s pointless against Alexios.

But I don’t care if I lose. I’m done kneeling. Done letting males with crowns carve me into shapes that suit them. When Idris gutted me on the Duehavn, that was the last time I’d ever die on my back.

So I raise my head and meet Alexios’ stare. “I accept.”

“Bryony, don’t—”

Evander’s shout is cut off with a flick of Alexios’ fingers. The god-king’s attention doesn’t waver from mine, and some dark and hungry emotion flickers in those crimson depths as he watches me.

“Then let’s go over a few lessons first.”

The air thickens. Pressure builds in my skull. With another casual movement of his fingers, power coils around my neck, squeezing until I gasp. Black spots dance in front of my eyes.

“Lesson one,” the god-king says. “Human bodies are fragile. The Wolf’s soulbond gives you his lifespan, but it doesn’t make you a god. You’re still breakable.”

Just before darkness can drag me under, he releases me, and I fall to my knees in the dirt, heaving air into my burning lungs. The reprieve lasts exactly three heartbeats.

Then his boot slams into my ribs.

Zephyr’s armor buckles beneath the impact. The pain eclipses every thought until I’m left with only animal instinct—curl into a ball, knees to chest, shrink down, make yourself small. Maybe then he’ll lose interest.

But he’s holding back. He could have pulverized my bones with that kick if he’d wanted. This is restraint for a creature like him.

He kneels beside me. “You know what I love about knives?” He trails the knife down my neck, shoving away bits of broken armor. “They’re intimate in a way powers can never be. Personal.” The steel bites into my skin. “Almost like foreplay. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I don’t react. I refuse to give him the satisfaction.

“To kill with steel, you have to get up close and dirty.” He begins to carve into me. I choke down a cry, blinking back bursts of light. “You understand that intimately, don’t you? It’s how you killed your uncle. How he tried to kill you. When you shove a blade into someone and watch the light leave their eyes, you learn something about them. And about yourself. Like you’re both peering into each other’s souls. The way a person bleeds shows you who they really are.” He drags the tip of the weapon lower, leaving a burning trail in its wake.

I’ll never forget this moment. This lesson. Even if I lived a thousand years, I’d remember the shape of this powerlessness.

“Fuck you,” I manage through gritted teeth.

He laughs. “Ah, there it is. There are the sweet words I used to hear through my Claim.” The blade sinks deeper. “I’ve been dying to make you pay for every time I heard them.”

Darkness dances at the edges of my vision, begging me to slip under. Some distant part of me hears Evander’s shout.

And still, the god-king carves his lessons into my skin. He doesn’t hit bone or pierce anything vital. Because this is a message, isn’t it? This is a reminder for the human who foolishly believed she could win a game with the God of Storms.

“Lesson two.” His voice stays conversational. “When a stupid little girl dreams of ruling beside a god, that fantasy comes with a price.”

Think of something else. Think of Evander’s hands on your skin, his wings wrapped around you, the heat of his mouth when he kisses you. The way he looks at you like you’re cherished.

As if Alexios senses my mind going elsewhere, he grips my hair hard. “You want to wear a crown in this realm and rule by an Eternal’s side for the rest of eternity?” There’s a stinging pain at my shoulder blade as he cuts away the decimated parts of the armor there. Making room for more marks. “Then you’ll have to bleed for it. Break for it. Beg for it.”

Agony whites out coherence, and I can’t I can’t I can’t—

“Look.” Alexios uses his grip on my hair to wrench my head around. “Look at him.” Evander thrashes, muscles straining as he tries to tear the bolts to his shackles out of the rock. “Look how desperate he is. How hard he’s fighting for his human. How far do you think he’ll go to keep you breathing? What piece of his soul will he trade?”

The blade stops and withdraws.

Then Alexios is hauling me up, dragging me across the sands to Evander.

“Heal her, Wolf,” he says, tossing me at my Chosen’s feet.

Alexios releases the shackles. The instant they fall away, Evander holds me against his chest. His power rushes into me in a wave of light and heat, seeking out every wound, stitching me together from the inside out.