From the sound of it, Angus was giving me free rein to be as creative as I wanted. But I knew that against an angel blade, I had only one choice. “I’d like my demon blade, please.”
Angus inclined his head. His First Order counterpart shook his head. “We can’t seem to locate it,” Angus said.
I smiled. Basil slipped through a portal and reappeared a moment later with Morning Star. Chalk one up for Basil. His wards were good enough that even a First Order mage couldn’t get through. Charles ran the sword over to me. I took it, scabbard and all, and clipped it across my back.
“Give them hell,” he said. Then he made an obscene gesture at Max.
“That little shit bet against me,” Max growled.
I was too busy taking in the familiar feel of Morning Star in my grip to respond. “I hope like hell you know how to use that thing,” Andrei told me out of the corner of his mouth. I had spotted Giselle and Eugenia in the crowd just a few rows to the left of where all my friends were positioned. I held out Morning Star with the point towards them. Giselle gave e a hard stare. I smirked.
“I guess we’ll see,” I said.
Jacqueline cleared her throat. “Mr. Popescu,” she said. “This is your last chance for a drink.”
The crowd seemed to find this funny. There was a lot of chuckling. While some of it was good-natured, most of it was cautious.
“No, thank you,” Andrei said.
“You’re not fooling anybody,” some gutless jerk called out.
I couldn’t figure where exactly it had come from. Andrei’s top lip curled but he let it slide. I should have as well. Instead, I pointed Morning Star in the general direction of where the shout had come from. “Come over here and say that.”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought.”
Andrei placed his hand on Morning Star’s blade and lowered it. “Don’t bother,” he said. I shook him off.
“We might die soon,” I told him. “We’re not taking crap from anybody anymore.”
It was something Giselle said to me all the time. “You can die at any moment. Why go through life pandering to other people?” It hadn’t sunk in until just now as I watched the other Nephilim clutching their blades. I had improved markedly but that didn’t mean I had any chance at beating them.
“Contestants,” Angus said, “I wish you all the best.”
He walked off the mats and returned to where the collective elite guards were seated in the front tiers.
A gong sounded. From the direction of the adjudicator’s box, a procession of Nephilim attendants came out carrying with them a wooden treasure chest overflowing with manna, a scroll that denoted the favour from the council, and a small ring box made of red velvet. These were laid out on a display table next to where the Academy heads were seated.
“The process of the gladiatorial round is simple,” Jacqueline said. “Each team will face off against another. The team that wins will move through to the next round until only two contestants are left. The last two single contestants will battle each other for the title of winner. For a team to win, their opponents must suffer a critical hit or be knocked unconscious.”
“She left out the death part,” I noted.
“I think that goes without saying,” Andrei shot back.
“One member of each team please step forward,” Jacqueline asked.
Andrei looked at me. I waved him ahead. He stepped up to Jacqueline along with Kai and Drake. Max and Bradley had a mini scuffle over who was going to do this. The crowd loved it. They booed and jeered as the two wrestled.
I rolled my eyes at the dominance struggles of idiots. With all of his shifter instinct back, Max gave a sharp growl that quietened the crowd. Bradley glared menacingly.
Even now I couldn’t get the notion out of my head that if I hadn’t tried to stop him, Bradley really would have killed Max during the last trial.
With a brutal shove, Max pushed Bradley back and stepped up. Jacqueline didn’t waste any more time. She made them pass their stamped hands over a mirror. Then she rattled it like it was one of those magic 8 balls. The image on Jacqueline’s mirror projected on the display of the other mirrors around the stadium.
I held my breath as the names came up on the mirrors: Andrei vs. Drake.
Andrei whirled around and grinned at me. “Finally, some luck.”
I tried to be as enthusiastic about it as possible. It was the best we could hope for. I secretly dreaded getting into a fight with Max. He wouldn’t purposely hurt me, so that would leave me trying to evade Bradley while Max would most definitely wipe the floor with Andrei.
“Would you like to begin or reserve the fight for the second round?” Jacqueline asked.
“Begin now.” Andrei didn’t miss a beat. If we fought second, we would go straight into another fight while tired or possibly injured. We needed to avoid that happening at all costs.
“Very well.”
The other contestants left the mat. Andrei and I moved to one side of the octagonal space while Drake and Barbara positioned themselves as far away from us as possible.
I could hear the crowd murmuring, but my focus had drawn closed. Right now, nothing existed outside the fluid white barriers that raised to the sky.
“They’ll both go for you,” Andrei said. Tell me something I didn’t know. Once they picked me off, the two of them against Andrei would mean an easy victory. “The difficult part will be getting close to Drake.”
It was true. Wind elementals were elusive. You could lose a fight to one without even seeing your opponent. “Try and stay behind me,” Andrei said.
“No. If we fight like I’m made of glass, we’ll lose. Take out Drake. I’ll look
