A killer instinct, with titanium behind it. A true warrior.
He had hoped for competence. Maybe even skill. The wrath in her expression was a bonus that affected him physically. He would teach her, watch her win, and then he would have her for his prize.
Shaking his head, he reminded himself that her training was his true goal.
Again, a blink. He moved with speed that could barely be seen, or so he was told. He landed a punch against her right kidney.
“You freak! Give me a chance, for the Dragon’s sake.”
“You speak of the Dragon but you lived as a human,” he said, not even winded. “It’s blasphemy.”
“I can’t help how I was raised.”
“Bullshit, as you say.” Leto leaned against the mesh steel. “You were cast out, I assume. I can’t imagine he was worth it.”
She stood. Slowly at first. Knees unsteady. She lifted her chin. That killer instinct had returned. Leto breathed in and relished the sight.
“He was worth everything I’ve endured, everything I ever will. And you’ve never felt its like.”
Anger lifted in Leto’s chest. Almost pain. Almost shame. Because she was right.
Blink. Kick to the lower back. Scream.
This time she didn’t fall. She whirled on the balls of her feet. The blaze of her silvery eyes caught with his. An uncanny glow stopped him cold.
Fireworks.
He tried to shake away the illusion, but it remained. Intensified. Thousands of fireworks bubbled inside a concentrated circle between Nynn’s hands. Sparks. Pinging blasts of flame were trapped in a sphere of energy that built and built—a balloon ready to burst. Her face contorted. Sweat trailed down her cheeks. She shrieked with the fury of a Pendray in the throes of a full berserker rage.
The bubble burst. Leto scrambled out of its path, but even he wasn’t fast enough.
Pure concussive force threw him against the mesh steel. He hit face-first and grunted. He couldn’t hear. Had he landed on the brushed concrete of the genuine Cage, he would’ve busted both kneecaps. With any more force, she would’ve broken every bone in his back.
He used the mesh steel to climb to his feet, ready to defend himself. But Nynn was on her hands and knees, shaking.
He hadn’t expected her to leave her first Cage match with all four limbs intact. Part of him hadn’t believed the pictures of Dr. Aster’s damaged lab. A hoax? An incentive to challenge him? Yet Nynn possessed the most remarkable gift he’d ever witnessed. She was a volcano bursting open and flinging burning, breakneck debris.
Nynn rasped, “What was that?” Then she sagged onto the Cage floor.
He staggered forward. His extraordinary senses returned.
From a corner of the arena room came slow, deliberate clapping. A shuffle and the thump of a cane followed. Leto’s gaze sliced through the darkness. Entirely bald and pushing eighty years, Old Man Aster emerged from the shadows. His maniacal grin carved wrinkles into the pantomime of a clown’s smile. He was only missing the face paint. His sallow complexion—after having spent most of the last five decades belowground—was eerie enough.
No matter his value to the Asters, Leto was always disturbed by that warped, skeletal appearance.
“I told you.” His voice was cultured, but scratched by his advanced age. “She’s amazing. She’ll rival you one day, my champion.”
Leto straightened to his full height. Upon the raised floor of the Cage, he had the higher vantage. That didn’t matter when staring into his master’s eyes. His pride twitched. “Is that what you want, sir? For her to best me?”
“No, Leto. You are going to do what you do best: make our family very wealthy and make me very proud.” He nodded toward Nynn’s fallen body. “To do so, you will fight with Malnefoley’s cousin . . . as your partner.”
FOUR
Partner. With her.”
“Yes, Leto.” The Old Man stroked a mustache as wan as his skin and as thin as his hair. Had he not possessed piercing green eyes, he would’ve appeared an albino. “The crowd grows weary of your successes. Betting has been poor—all in your favor. It’s become a losing prospect for the bookies. Some have refused to take wagers on you. The other cartels refuse to pit their best against you in a future Grievance, which would exclude you from the games.” He grinned again with that warped joker’s smile. “Apparently there exists the possibility of too much of a good thing.”
Indignation burned in Leto’s throat. To have his victories so insulted was something he’d never imagined. Couldn’t comprehend. After the blow he’d suffered at Nynn’s hands, the insult to his pride was too much.
A faint glow radiated from her body, even through her armor. The training arena took on an eerie light. Her power shocked him. Stayed with him. A headache had burst across his temples—the constant beat of unreleased tension.
He swallowed in an attempt to regain his patience. He couldn’t argue with the head of the Aster cartel. Perhaps the facts could be plainly stated.
“Sir, I’ve never fought with a partner. She’s an untested threat to herself and to me.”
“My point exactly. She adds an element of uncertainty that you no longer possess. The crowd will hold its breath and the exchange of coin will skyrocket.” The Old Man thumped forward, near enough to touch the bars of the Cage. “You will do this, Leto. I don’t care how you manage it. If Nynn of Tigony survives three matches, I will provide your sister Pell with whatever medical care she requires.”
“For life?”
“What remains of it.”
Leto’s focus returned, as did a sudden lifting of his heart. He didn’t like the situation, and rebellious thoughts doubted he could make it happen. But his purpose remained as clear as the sunlight his mother had described to him as a boy.
“Pell has been under the care of my older sister and brother-in-law for many years,” Leto said with a tight roughness in his throat. “My family would be very grateful for the assistance. I will do this, sir.”
“Good.”
The Old Man thumped away—three sounds with each step. Step. Cane. Shuffle. Leto would’ve recognized that pattern anywhere. His master’s cadence was nearly as familiar as his own heartbeat.
Over his shoulder, the Old Man called, “I’ll return in the days before the match. Arrangements will need to be made if you’re not ready.”
To turn this woman—practically a human, but for her remarkable powers—into a fighter would be nothing short of astonishing. What better opportunity to demonstrate his prowess as a warrior? Three matches. Keep her alive. Then his comatose younger sister would be protected forever.
Leto returned to where Nynn had fallen. Cropped, golden blond hair glimmered beneath the floodlights that lined the Cage’s octagonal posts. She appeared asleep. Again he was fascinated with her freckles. He’d never seen their like—light brown, not tinged with red as with pale human women. He recognized that her stubbornness resided almost entirely in her pert chin. That stubbornness disappeared while she rested. Flaring brows gave her an exotic look, even among the Dragon Kings. Their women were perfection, hewn of centuries of power and flawless genetics.
Perhaps that was why they could not reproduce. What if such perfection came at great cost?
Leto was not the man to speculate.
“Wake.” He gave her a hard shove. “Lab filth. Get up.”
“I thought you’d decided on Nynn. Sir.”
He indulged in a tight smile because her eyes remained closed. “I did.”
Feathery gold lashes fluttered open. She assessed him in a way that belied her depleted sprawl. “What
