It was like being slapped in the face with a bucket of ice-cold water. My desire shrivelled. I raised Morning Star again even though I felt completely winded. Before I had a chance to figure out a new plan of attack, Andrei appeared in front of me.
“Sorry, squirt,” he said. He ripped the demon blade from my grip and latched on to the back of my neck.
“What the hell?” I screamed.
“One of us has to win this thing, and we’re not going to be able to do it by force.”
Kai went preternaturally still. The crowd drew in an anticipatory breath.
Andrei was still favouring his wounded side. But that didn’t mean he was slow. Not anymore. In the time it would take for Kai to teleport, Andrei could snap my neck.
“Let her go.” There wasn’t a lick of give in his voice.
“Certainly,” Andrei said. “I’d be more than happy to. As soon as you forfeit.”
The booing from the crowd was drowned out by the raucous laughter. Kai didn’t find it amusing. I would never joke about this.
I shook my head to clear it of confusion. Why did he even care now that he was bonded to Chanelle?
Andrei slid his thumb against my hairline. The clawed tip grazed me enough to raise a shiver. “This isn’t funny, you nutcase,” I said. I slapped at his arm. He stared into my eyes.
“Be quiet!”
My mouth knitted shut immediately, even though I wanted to spit in his face. The keening sound I made at the back of my throat had the arena quietening. In the projection of the mirror, my face was colouring up with the effort to speak. My eyes bugged out of my head. Try as I might, I couldn’t say a word. That son of a bitch had compelled me into silence.
Kai’s jawline turned to stone.
“I’d stop walking if I were you,” Andrei told him. Kai halted.
“She trusted you.” His voice dripped venom. He wouldn’t look at me. It was as though he took my trust of Andrei as a betrayal. There was more than one nutcase in the arena at the moment.
“She got stupid and desperate when everyone else abandoned her,” Andrei said. “She made up something that wasn’t there. I won’t say it again. Forfeit or she dies.”
Kai went so perfectly still I could no longer see him breathing.
The crowd screamed at him not to take the bait. For a second, the barriers flickered. “Lower them and I snap her neck right now,” Andrei said. The elite guard appeared around the ring of the arena. Ten-plus years of being a psychopath bore fruit. When Andrei made a threat, people believed him. Why were they suddenly worried about what happened to me? I supposed allowing someone to die during a game was reasonable if the events were rolling out too quickly to stop. Not lifting a finger against this threat might have been considered too far.
I burst a capillary in my left eye trying to speak. The throb of pain had my face twitching. Kai finally looked at me. “Let’s play another game,” Andrei said. He passed Morning Star back over to me. A flutter of terror tried to eat away my stomach lining.
“If he doesn’t forfeit in ten seconds, stab yourself through the heart with it.”
He pressed the blade to my hands. I had absolutely no intention of complying. What I wanted to do was lop his arm off for making it impossible for me to speak.
Ten seconds. No. I would not do this.
Eight seconds. My toes curled with the effort of keeping my arms by my side.
Seven seconds. Blood trickled down my nose. Sweat made my singlet stick to my back.
Six. I counted down in my head. Was Kai doing the same?
Four. I screamed with frustration but only I could hear it. Against my will, I positioned Morning Star with the tip of the blade pointed at a diagonal. At this angle, it would pierce through my ribs before it impaled my heart.
Two. Andrei smiled.
One.
“I forfeit.” It was an urgent bark.
My fingers uncurled. Morning Star clattered to the mat.
For a second, everything around us quietened. It was as if nobody could quite believe that Malachi Pendragon wasn’t going to win the Unity Games.
“Yeah!” Charles screamed. It opened a floodgate. The arena erupted in a cacophony of sound. All of it jumbled together so I couldn’t get a read on the sentiment of the crowd. Right now, I didn’t care.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Kai. His face was unreadable, his posture almost casual. It was in his nature to sacrifice for the greater good. Had I been anyone else, he would have done the same. Yet I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. It almost felt as if he was holding himself calm for the crowd, but his frayed nerves were transmitting to me.
A thousand questions flooded my mind.
I didn’t get a chance to voice any of them. Not that I could. I was still muzzled by Andrei’s compulsion. He reached over to uncurl my fisted hands.
The barriers came down.
Kai walked silently off the mats.
The barriers rose again. I swore inside my head. There would be no break for the next trial. Andrei turned to face me head-on. I tried to close my eyes, but they wouldn’t comply.
“We did it.” He laughed. “Just one last hurdle.”
Now that he saw I could fight, Andrei must have deemed this the easier way to beat me.
I swiped at the blood under my nose. The bright crimson shocked a notion to the forefront of my mind. It was amazing what a little blood could do. It had changed Andrei’s fortunes completely. Maybe it could change mine right now.
Behind Andrei’s shoulder, I caught Basil waving at me. He drew a circle in the air. I grinned at him. Great minds, I mouthed at him.
Red blotches appeared in Andrei’s irises. It was the first hint of a compulsion coming on. An incredibly strong one. I was flattered that he bothered when it was apparent
