“Kerrigan?” Valia asked in shock.
Kerrigan dropped her magic at once. A gasp of relief escaped her. It wasn’t an assassin or one of Basem’s men or anything. It was… it was just Valia.
“Valia!” Kerrigan gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“Gods, Kerrigan, you attacked me!”
“You’re in my room at night!”
Kerrigan ignited a flame and set it into the lantern by her bed, illuminating the small, mostly empty space. Valia rubbed her bare wrists. Kerrigan could see a line of red around them.
“I’m sorry,” Kerrigan said with a sigh, sinking into her bed. “I just… I’m jumpy right now.”
“I noticed that,” Valia said indignantly.
“But, really… what are you doing here?”
“Helly was looking for you.”
“Scales.”
“Yeah. I covered for you and told her that you were training late. But I knew you had been sneaking out, and if she found out, the punishment would be severe. So, I waited to see if I’d have to cover for you again.”
Kerrigan frowned. “How did you know I was sneaking out?”
“Because you’re really not that good at it,” Valia said with a small laugh. “But that’s coming from someone who is used to being alone all the time and likes finding ways to avoid notice.”
“Well, thanks for covering for me. Do you know what she wanted?”
Valia shook her head. “Not sure. She seemed sad.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to her tomorrow, I guess.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll need it.”
Valia headed to the door, and then right before she walked through, she turned back around and looked at Kerrigan. “Where were you tonight anyway?”
Kerrigan laughed, trying for levity. “A party.”
“With Fordham?”
She nodded. “You’re only young once, right?”
“Right,” Valia said softly. “Night.”
Kerrigan watched her go with a pang in her heart. How had she ever thought Valia was a threat in her bedroom? It was odd that she’d been in here at all, but nothing was out of place.
She had judged Valia. After this tournament, she was going to make a more concerted effort to befriend the girl. She didn’t like that Valia had been left alone all this time.
Kerrigan lay down in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She put out the light with a snap of her fingers and waited for sleep to take her. After everything that had happened that night and the exhaustion settling into her bones, she thought it would come easy. But it was nearly dawn before sleep finally came, and where sleep was, nightmares followed.
44
The Big Fight
“You can do this,” Clover said in her best pep-talk voice.
Kerrigan sat with her head in her hands in the locker room the night of the big fight. Her stomach was in knots. Everything was riding on this moment. Her final confrontation with Basem Nix. The same place where this had all started.
“I know I can,” Kerrigan said weakly.
“Ker, come on. You need more energy than that.”
She did. She really did.
But sleep had eluded her all week. She didn’t know if it was fear of the impending fight, which she’d never had before, or growing anxiety toward the end of the tournament, or how much exactly depended on getting this right.
“It’s just so much more than a fight.”
“You can’t think of anything but what you’re about to do out there, Red. Play your part. Beat Basem. Let the rest of the pieces fall into place.”
“You’re right.”
And she was. She’d worried about what Helly wanted to say after Valia was in her rooms, but she had just wanted to apologize for her reaction. She had been more worried than mad, and it had come out poorly. They parted on good terms. Though… her punishment hadn’t been lessened. Not that Helly knew she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. Valia had shown her a new exit that Kerrigan hadn’t even known about. It made all of this much easier.
“Damn straight I’m right. You’re going to win this.”
Kerrigan nodded as a man strode in and gestured for her to follow him.
“You’re about to be announced. Come with me.”
She got to her feet, rolling her shoulders and bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. She repeated everything Fordham had been training into her the last couple of weeks. She’d prepared for this. All or nothing.
With an eruption of applause, the announcer stepped into the Dragon Ring. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen and all manner of bottom-feeding scum in the Wastes. We are here for a momentous night of fighting. Our main event is a winner-take-all, no-rules, no-holds-barred fight to the death!”
The crowd roared at those words. What every spectator wanted to hear.
“Up first, the scrappy and daring fighter, RED!”
Kerrigan took a deep breath, and then she jumped into the ring, holding her hands above her head. The crowd cheered for her.
“Her competitor, the hulking and dominating fighter, NIX!”
Basem slunk into the ring, holding his own fists high. He was shirtless, revealing his massive bulk. He looked every inch the bruiser she had first named him as. He had a pouch at both of his sides that dangled from his shorts. The crowd was thunderous for the enormous tree trunk of a man.
“You ready for this, leatha?” Basem snarled at her.
A few boos came from the crowd at the slur, but just as many people cheered for the horrible word.
“Oh, I’m ready,” Kerrigan said.
She ripped out the headband that obscured her too-small ears, the delicate points that marked her as half-Fae. The exact thing that she had tried to hide for so long. But she wasn’t just here to fight Basem Nix. She was here to fight anyone who had ever dared to call her that horrible word. For anyone who had ever dared to look down on her for only being half-Fae. She was doing it for all the half-Fae out there who had ever faced down a bruiser.
She tossed the headband out of the ring and deliberately tucked her red hair behind her ears. “Let’s do this.”
A chorus screamed at the revelation. A half-Fae fighting a full-blooded Fae in the Dragon Ring wasn’t unheard of, but they were usually smaller fights. Nothing this big. Definitely nothing to the death. Dozan was offering a rare treat indeed. Likely as many people in the audience wanted to see her blood spill as those who wanted to see her take down someone like Basem. Bets rained down on the awaiting spectacle.
Kerrigan tuned it all out. Just centered herself under the lanterns that illuminated the space. She breathed in through her nose and carefully out through her mouth. Discipline. This was what she had been training for. And Basem Nix had no idea.
The announcer was calling out some other nonsense and then ceded the floor to Dozan. Kerrigan turned her face up. She had been waiting for this. Her vision had shown her in the Dragon Ring with Dozan standing over her, just as he was now. She had tried to walk away from it, but of course, she’d still ended up here.
Both opponents waited for his signal, tensed and ready.
Then Dozan called out, “Begin!”