House of Dragons (Royal Houses 1)

“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!”

Basem grinned and launched toward her. She brought up everything she knew about him from their first fight. Affinity for earth. Small drop of water magic. Used his strength to overpower his enemies. Trained with an air Fae. Ambushes over one-on-one combat.

“Know your enemy, and if you don’t know your enemy, anticipate their mistakes.”

He stomped his foot, and Kerrigan reflexively stepped to the side. The chunk of rock went flying wide, right where she had been standing. The last time she’d fought, he had pummeled her with rock that she hadn’t been able to anticipate. She’d won because she’d gotten mad and unleashed that anger. Not for any real skill. She had been as much brute strength as he was.

Basem continued to volley rocks at her as she nimbly evaded them. “Come out. Come out, girl,” he snarled. “You can’t run forever.”

Truly, she could. She could run until he ran out of magic or collapsed from the effort. But she had no plan to.

The next rock he lobbed at her, she circled around it, using its momentum to slingshot it back to Basem. A sickening crunch erupted throughout the ring as it collided with Basem’s chest. He stumbled back one step, and his eyes burned a deep dark brown and went wide with anger.