“That’s not your choice. I—”
I’m certain my father thought he had an excellent argument for why I didn’t get a say in a duel he was ostensibly fighting for my sake. Whatever it was, though, he never got to say, because that was the moment Mad Dog resumed his attack, swinging for my dad’s left, the side opposite of the one I’d grabbed.
If my father hadn’t been a dragon, he would have lost an arm. Thankfully, he wasn’t that far gone yet. He danced out of the way with supernatural grace. When he tried to drag me away with him, though, I let go.
“Opal!” he hissed, but I’d already turned my back on him. Dad might be the one on the defensive, but he wasn’t the person who needed my help right now. That honor belonged to the man in front of me, the growling animal I still stubbornly believed Nik was inside of somewhere.
“Nik,” I said quietly, holding out my hands. “It’s me.”
Mad Dog growled and hunkered down, but he didn’t attack, which I took as a good sign. “This isn’t you,” I told him, careful to stay very still. “It never was, and it never will be. You got free of this world once. You can do it again. Don’t let him turn you back into something you hate.”
The monster wearing Nik’s face bared its teeth at me and took a step forward. Only one step, though. He couldn’t do more than that because his right foot was still dug into the sand. No matter how he pulled, it stayed put, and the longer he struggled, the angrier he got.
Above our heads, I could hear the announcer saying something breathlessly, but it was impossible to make out the actual words over the crowd. The audience that had gone quiet when I’d first run onto the sand had finally found their voice again, and it was a furious one. I was sure no one up there understood what was actually going on, but my presence was definitely not appreciated. And as their angry shouting grew, the pumping magic of the arena began to twist and roil like a storm cloud above me.
“That’s it!” I told Nik, ignoring the doom hanging over our heads like a sword. “Fight them! I’ll help you. I’ll always help you, just like you help me! We’re not alone anymore, and we never have to be again. You can do this, Nik! You can—”
Stop.
I froze, heart pounding. The voice had spoken in my head just like the DFZ’s did, but it wasn’t my god. Even at her worst, the DFZ had never sounded this cruel, the sound tangling my mind like a barbed whip.
What are you doing? the Gameskeeper whispered. He can’t fight this. His soul’s already mine, bought and paid for. All you’re doing is making his death more painful.
As if to prove his point, Mad Dog chose that moment to fall to his knees, clutching his head with a scream that reminded me more of Nik than anything else Mad Dog had done tonight.
See?
“Ignore him, Nik!” I cried, dropping down beside him. “He wouldn’t be here telling me to stop if you really had no chance. It’s just the stupid curse, not you! You can make it!”
And you call me cruel, the Gameskeeper sneered in my head, which pissed me off to no end. I was so sick of every force of nature in this city getting free access to my brain. Seriously, how were they getting in?
I didn’t ‘get in’ anywhere, the arena god said with a chuckle. You came into my domain. You forced your way into my magic with that huge open soul of yours. You might as well be naked.
I clenched my teeth.
I can see everything, he went on, goading me. Your life, your past, your choices. You’d actually fit in very well here, you know.
“Screw you!” I yelled.
See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about, he said, his voice getting excited as his bloody magic pounded through my brain. I thought you were just another of the DFZ’s sycophants, but now I see why you couldn’t be her priestess. You’re like me. The DFZ’s greatest flaw has always been that she believes her own propaganda. Despite daily evidence to the contrary, she stubbornly clings to the simplistic fable that anyone can get what they want if they work hard. But you know better. You had everything—wealth, power, your very own dragon—and you threw it away. You saw the dream of the DFZ for the sham it was, but still you fight. I respect that.
A hand appeared in the magic in front of me, shimmering like heat waves above Nik’s head. Come and fight for me, he beckoned. Unlike the DFZ, my promises aren’t empty. My champions truly do get everything they want, at least before they fall. But we all fall in the end. You know that, so come and live out your brief life here. You’ve already proved your worth by beating my mage. Come and be a champion, Opal of Korea. Shine in the arena for me. Give yourself to the crowd, and you will finally have the adoration and respect you were always so unfairly denied.
The hand wiggled enticingly, and I made sure to let my disgust shine clear through my mind before I smacked it away. “If that’s the conclusion you came to after seeing my life, you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
Ignorant girl, the Gameskeeper hissed. You—
“No!” I shouted. “You think I’m afraid of you? I’ve been talked down to by way scarier things! You wouldn’t be crap if your ‘loser’ mage wasn’t using a blood-drunk mob to pump you up. You act like you’re a big god, but everything you’ve said has been so wrong, I don’t even know how you got there.” I slapped a hand against my chest. “You think I want to be a champion in your little blood show? I hate fighting! If you’d actually
