“I could have fought easily. Called on the mountain to help. It senses the violence within it. It will have its share of blood.”
“I just meant that you had to bend over—”
“I am fine outside or inside the mountain. It is my birthright.”
I gave up.
As the basajaun muttered away, we entered the berm, the lighting once again dim. A sign pointed my team away right, and we walked into what could only be described as a locker room. There were flat benches and little cubbies, plus a big pile of rusty swords and various other weapons next to the door leading outside. The meadow, I’d noticed, had been stripped of grasses and flowers. Sand had taken its place, clearly having been brought in. It didn’t look natural to the area. This kind of preparation didn’t happen overnight…
Elliot had definitely planned all of this way in advance. But how far in advance? When had he hatched his plan to get me here?
“Really?” Ulric took a half-cleaved helmet out of a cubby and showed it to Broken Sue. “This yours?”
“Intimidation tactics,” Austin said, stripping off his shirt. “I don’t smell blood in here, or see it on any of those weapons. These are just props. They’re not meant for people like us.”
“Speak for yerself,” Niamh said. “I think they’re good craic. Look at this one.” She held up a breastplate. The strap over the left shoulder was broken and the whole left side was bent in, suggesting the person in it had been crushed by something. “Or look.” She grabbed a metal shin guard, twisted so badly that any leg inside of it would have been hanging on by a thread. “Here, Jessie, wear this one.” She grabbed a woman’s breastplate, shining bronze, the breasts large and ending in points. “Go on, wear it. Go on, ye might as well.”
I shook my head and plucked at my muumuu, nothing but a thin bit of fabric that could easily be pulled off before a change.
“Missed opportunity, that,” Niamh said.
“I will.” Cyra took hold of it and affixed it to her middle. “I’ll try to boob-ram someone. That’ll hurt worse than my fire.”
Edgar stepped out from behind another set of cubbies with a bicycle helmet a size too big and catcher’s gear. “Look, they have something like what I first wore when Jessie started learning. It almost fits.”
Niamh stared at him blankly. “It’s not funny when ye do it.”
“It is.” Cyra held her stomach and laughed. “It is funny when he does it! Hollace, you put something on, too.”
“They couldn’t possibly take this less seriously,” I said to Austin.
“It won’t detract from how they perform,” he replied.
“Girl’s plate or guy’s plate?” Hollace asked.
Cyra held up a plate for the groin with a very detailed metal casing of male genitalia. “Take your pants off. See if it fits.”
Hollace took it from her and stepped into it. “Don’t know if I can run in this.”
“No, no, pants off. There’s a place to—”
“Miss Ironheart.” A woman in a red coat stepped into the room. She blinked at Hollace, who had frozen halfway through pulling up his metal penis. “Please assemble your team and follow me. It is time to fight.”
Nineteen
Sebastian rubbed his hands together, sitting above the arena in a cushioned fold-out chair midway up the side of the plateau. A rock wall ran in front of him, keeping him from pitching over the side and falling ten feet to the grandstands, where the other mages and some of their people had filed in to watch. He’d made sure they were all invited.
“Your girl could get her ass handed to her right now, and you’re excited?” Nessa shook her head and consulted her watch.
“She won’t. You’ll see.”
“I didn’t know you liked blood sport this much.” She pushed forward and looked over the side. “I still don’t see Burke.”
“I’m sure he’s skulking around the tunnels, trying to find my residence. He has no idea there are two separate tunnel systems.”
“He’s a fool. You shouldn’t have bothered to bring him.”
“And rob me of the fun of watching him try to kill me? Poppycock.”
“He doesn’t have any hope of even getting near you. You know that.”
“Not unless I let him stumble into me, no. Which I will, just for giggles. But I want to see this competition first. I want everyone to see it. After these games, Jacinta will no longer be a pitiful Jane with a bunch of animals. She will be recognized as the most powerful mage in the world, with the second most powerful mage at her back. She will be a rising star. These games won’t only give her status—they’ll give her connections.”
“Won’t it be a grand joke if you have done all this to help her, only to be killed by her in a few days.”
“Not the kind of joke that would make me laugh, but certainly the kind of cosmic joke that would be par for the course with my life experience.” He sucked in a breath. “Here we go. Shh-shh.”
“It was sweet the way the shifter stayed to dance with her last night,” Nessa whispered as Jessie’s crew was led out of the holding area. “Holy crap, are they naked?” Nessa leaned forward, squinting, then reached down to grab her binoculars.
“Sure, now you’re interested,” he murmured, using his own binoculars to check on Jessie. She looked nervous, with tight shoulders and fisted hands. He felt bad for her, continually being thrown in the deep end, but trial by fire was the only sort that worked in the magical world.
Her big alpha was as experienced with the nuances of body language as she was naïve, thankfully. He walked by her side but a step or two behind her, giving her the head position while making it clear he would not hesitate to protect her.
“This is like Christmas,” Sebastian said, giddy. “You have no idea how powerful she is, Nessa. She learns fast, too.”
“You’ve said, yes. I can’t believe so many of them are walking out naked. And look at those others. They’re actually wearing that ridiculous armor you put in there.” She looked over the wall at the mages gathered below. When she sat back down, she said, “Some clearly think this is a joke, and others are disgusted.”
Noah and his group of mages walked out next, led by another of Sebastian’s people. They walked in a cluster. A couple of stragglers in the back seemed less sure of themselves—those were the smart ones—but most of the mages strutted right alongside Noah, who clearly thought this was a waste of his time. The group stopped at the other end of the meadow in their mages’ robes, hands by their sides, silently broadcasting their assurance of victory.
“They have no idea what they just walked into,” Sebastian murmured, looking at Noah’s smug face through his binoculars.
“A bunch of naked guys, that’s what they just walked into. Why did you put the magical ceiling so low over the arena if they fly?”
“I wanted to let the shifters shine on this one.”
“You need to get over your love affair with shifters.”
“I don’t love them. I’m terrified of them. It’s nice to feel a strong emotion again after Jala died, even if it is fear.”