The monster threw me to the ground. My lightning died, shocked out of me by the jarring impact.

Up close, I could see every fang in the beast’s mouth. There was a double row. I thrashed beneath the creature, kneeing it in its wounded stomach.

It hissed, hot saliva dripping onto my face. I gagged as fear rose inside me, trying to call on the lightning with every bit of magic I had. Except it was hard—this was one I’d have to practice.

The lightning merely fizzled inside me.

I went for the monster’s eyes, my hand forming a claw. Before my fingers landed in the socket, the beast was yanked off of me.

I gasped, suddenly able to breathe, and watched Cade stab his arrow into the monster’s throat. The beast flopped and writhed, then exploded in a cloud of magical black dust.

Panting, I scrambled to my feet. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” He crouched and turned, searching for more creatures.

I cocked my head, listening. There were no more footsteps. “We got them all.”

He turned and looked at me. “How can you tell?”

I pointed to my ears. “New power.”

“Heimdall?”

“I think so.” I joined him, standing close as we looked around. “This has to be over, right? He said one challenge.”

“I would think—”

The jungle fell away from us, returning the arena to its normal barren ground. I glanced toward Cocidius, whose posture was slightly more alert, then toward the Ring Master.

Full dark had fallen, but torches had been lit around us. They illuminated his face, casting it in shades of red and orange that only highlighted the rage twisting his features.

“Whoo, boy, he’s pissed all right,” I said.

“He wanted us to kill each other.”

“I’m not going to oblige.”

The Ring Master raised his arms, and magic swirled on the air.

“Hey!” I shouted. “You said that was it for us!”

He said nothing, just gave me a look that could burn a person’s soul away, and jerked his arms down.

My stomach dropped as a great black swarm formed in the air, hopping over us. I squinted upward, trying to see what it was.

“Giant wasps,” Cade said. “Thousands.”

Panic leapt in my chest. “How do we fight a swarm?”

One monster, fine. But thousands? This was where Ana would create a shield. But we had no Ana.

Shit, shit, shit.

The wasps swarmed in the sky above, and I realized that the Ring Master was also moving his arms. Conducting them like an orchestra.

There was no water for me to call on—just the river nearby. It wasn’t enough to drown them all.

I called on the lightning again, reaching for it, praying that my previous failed attempts had been practice. It sparked and burned inside me, Thor’s gift reaching toward the heavens and commanding the lightning to strike.

But instead of going for the wasps—there was no way I could blast them all—I envisioned a cage of lightning surrounding us.

The light snapped down from the sky, arching over us like a dome. A cage of lightning crackled around us, nearly blinding me.

“Amazing,” Cade murmured.

Strain pulled at my muscles and my will as I forced the lightning to shield us.

Something slammed against the cage wall, fizzled and burned.

The wasps.

They threw themselves at the cage. They were the size of dogs, their stingers as long as my forearm. A few shots of those and we’d be dead.

Exhaustion pulled at me as I fed my magic to the cage. My shoulder wounds ached.

I gasped. “How will we kill them all?”

Cade squinted up through the cage. “We can’t kill them all, but they may have a queen. We can try for her.”

“Yes!” Hope flared. “Maira said the slave collars are propelled by the magic of one source. These bastards like to use magic like that. So maybe the queen’s magic controls the rest. If we can find her…”

Cade searched the sky as more and more slammed into the cage around us. Slowly, they petered off, flying higher into the sky. Waiting. Waiting.

“What are they waiting for?” I asked, anxiety ratcheting up inside me.

“Something’s going to change. They don’t want to decrease their numbers.”

Suddenly, my lightning faltered and flickered. Then the cage disappeared, the lightning drawn back up into the sky, then outward toward the edges of the arena.

It struck against metal rods that extended high into the air.

“The bastard created lightning rods,” Cade said.

And now my lightning was useless.

And the wasps were hurtling down toward us. A big one led the charge.

I pointed. “The queen!”

“Shield me with your illusion,” he said. “I’m shifting forms.”

I didn’t have time to guess at what he planned, but I followed on instinct, using the last of my drained magic to create a mirror image of human Cade as he shifted into his wolf form. Immediately, I hid the wolf from the eyes of the crowd. Fortunately, the wasps created a shield over us so that they couldn’t see well.

Unfortunately, they were super close. My skin was ice and my brain buzzed with fear. I’d never been so scared in my life.

The queen was fifteen feet above me when her giant body collapsed in on itself, blood spraying. I couldn’t see Cade because of the illusion, but I knew what he’d done.

Cade had jumped up and bitten her.

Holy crap.

Quickly, I formed an illusion of lightning striking down to where the queen now thrashed in the air, no doubt being shaken in Cade’s wolf jaws. It looked like the lightning struck the queen—hopefully the crowd would buy it.

Suddenly, the wasps all disappeared.

The queen was dead.

Warm, heavy fur pressed against my side. Cade. He shifted back to human, his arm on my shoulder, and I used the last of my illusion power to make his fake form disappear.

We stood, panting.

Fading adrenaline made my limbs weak, and I leaned against Cade.

“The lightning illusion was smart,” he said.

I nodded, my breaths heaving. “Thanks. I didn’t know how we’d explain their death otherwise.”

“And now they just think you’re a powerful lightning mage—or that his rods stopped working.”

“We need all our powers to stay secret. I don’t want them tying us up in that magical rope again if they suspect what we are.”

He nodded.

The Ring Master stepped up to the edge of his platform, scowling. He was about to speak when clapping sounded.

I turned toward it.

Cocidius.

“Just you wait, buddy,” I muttered.

The Ring Master closed his mouth and stepped back.

I took that as our cue. “Let’s go.”

We limped off the field. Blood seeped slowly from my wounds, and I was exhausted. As I neared the exit, I glanced back at Rowan.

She and Cocidius disappeared, leaving their dais empty.

I felt her loss in my chest. Panic welled. I gripped Cade’s arm. “She’s gone.”

“She’ll be back.” He lowered his voice since we were near the trainer. “We’re too weak now to save her, anyway.”

I leaned against him, acknowledging his words.

The trainer stepped back to let us inside the corral. It was empty now, since we were the last fighters. He jerked his head toward the exit. “To the healer.”

I grimaced, but did as he said. I knew I didn’t have the strength left to heal myself. And what little I did have, I needed to save for our rescue attempt.

“We’ll have to take our chances.”

“Yeah.”

Three guards escorted us to the healer’s—more than before, which meant they were growing wary of us. Good thing we hadn’t used all our skills. If they’d known the magic that was going on behind the scenes during that fight, our guard would be twice as big.

My stomach turned as we entered her creepy roundhouse and took our seats. She stood with her back to us, stirring her glowing cauldron.

“Wonder how long she’ll make us wait?” I muttered.

Boris the rat popped out of her hair as if he’d heard us, glittering eyes glued to us. He chittered, patting the healer on the head with one front paw.

“Calm down, Boris,” she croaked.

Boris squeaked again.

“Don’t you know this potion is important?” she said. “We need it for the collars. No collars, no slaves. Then we’re doing our own laundry.”

I doubted the captives washed her laundry much, given the look of her, but that wasn’t the interesting part.

This must’ve been the potion that kept the collars’ magic powered up. Suddenly, I was grateful that the dino-beast had dug into me.

We’d just found the location of the collars’ source magic.

Boris leapt off her head and ran across the floor to us. His fur shined a dark brown, and he actually wasn’t a bad-looking rat.

He stopped near us and sat up on his hind legs, whiskers twitching.

“How you doing?” I asked.

He inclined his head, inspecting our wounds. My shoulders looked a bit like ground meat, which made my stomach turn, and Cade had a deep laceration in his side.

Boris turned on his hind legs and ran to the side of the house, where a tall shelf contained various vials and glowing objects. This place would be creepy-cool in a Halloween way if the healer weren’t such a miserable witch.

Boris grabbed a vial in his mouth and brought it back to us, dropping it at our feet. I leaned down to pick it up as he repeated the gesture, bringing a second vial.

I uncorked it and sniffed.

“Smells good,” I murmured. “Comforting.”

Cade sniffed his. “Healing potion. Thank you, Boris.”

I downed the contents in one gulp, enjoying the taste of berries. “You’re a good rat, Boris.”

Maybe he’d liked our compliments on our last visit, I didn’t know. But I’d take it.

As I set the vial on the bench next to me and stood, the healer turned.

“Back again, are you?” she said.

“And leaving just as quickly.” I nodded to Boris. “Great rat you have there.”

She glared at Boris. “Again?”

He shrugged, a movement that clearly said, “If you’re not going to do it, I am.”

We left her sputtering at the rat and him ignoring her, and stepped outside. The three guards waited, their gazes riveted to the door.

They escorted us to the food hall, which was mostly empty. No Maira. Cade and I ate quickly, restoring a good bit of our strength, then were escorted to our roundhouse. Exhaustion pulled at me as I walked, and I had to use every bit of magic I had to maintain the glamour that we wore.

There were more guards on the roundhouse this time. Four at least, depending on how many of our escorts stayed.

They shoved us inside and slammed the door behind us.

I turned to Cade. “Rowan is gone from the camp.”

“She’ll return. Have faith. This is his headquarters.”

“Where would they go?”

“To meet with the other Rebel Gods, possibly.”

I nodded, pacing.

“Rest. Gain your strength. We’ll find her.”

I nodded, praying they would return. Reluctantly, I lay on the furs and stared at the ceiling, trying to relax so that my magic would regenerate.

Cade lay next to me, and I reached for his hand. “Thank you for all of this. I know it’s your job, but thank you.”

“It is my job. But I’m here because of you.” He turned his head to look at me. “I care for you, Bree. More than I’ve ever cared for anybody. That means I care for your sister as well. We’ll save her. Promise.”

Tears pricked my eyes. It’d been so long since I’d had anyone at my side besides Ana and Rowan.

Now I had the Protectorate, but even better, I had Cade.

I leaned my head toward his shoulder and rested, letting my magic fill up inside me. Every second that passed was an eternity, but he was right. I needed to recover.

* * *

I felt her return to the camp like I’d been struck by lightning. I sat upright, gasping.

“She’s here?” Cade asked.

“I can feel her.”

“Good.” He climbed to his feet. “I’m ready to fight. Are you?”

“Definitely.” My magic wasn’t at 100 percent, but it was close enough. I walked to the door and pressed my ear to it, calling upon my new hearing power from Heimdall. The sound of men’s breathing filtered through the door, and I counted. “Four of them.”

“It’d be best if we could get them in here to take them out. There’d be some sound muffling from the walls and no witnesses.”

“Agreed.” I stepped back from the wall. “But how?”

He rubbed his chin, brow creased.

A half second later, Mayhem flew in through the back wall, as if she’d been listening to us.

I grinned. “Hey there.”

She wagged her tail. For the first time, she had no ham or hunk of meat in her mouth. She was ready for battle. I wouldn’t put it past her to have a battle ham, but today she flew solo.

“Could you lead the guards in here?” I asked her.

She nodded, then flew out the back wall again. Cade and I took up position on either side of the door so we could jump them. I drew my sword from the ether, and he did the same. I met his gaze, and he grinned.

Now it was really time to fight, something that the god of war definitely enjoyed.

I didn’t bother to give us the usual glamour. This was it—now or never. Cocidius was going to figure out we were after him, so no need to waste my magic.

And I’d be glad to fight beside Cade when he actually looked like the guy I knew.

There were some confused murmurs, then Mayhem flew through the front door a moment later.

The door slammed open, and two men rushed in.

I took the first one, slicing my blade across his throat before he realized what was happening. Cade did the same with the second.

The last two guards were harder. They’d seen their fellows fall.

I lunged out of the door and grabbed one by the shirt, yanking him inside and plunging my blade into his gut. He gurgled and spat blood as I twisted the blade.

Normally I’d feel bad about killing a non-demon, but these guys participated in slavery and forced captives into death fights.

I hated taking a life, but these guys were fair game.

Cade went for the last guard, cutting off his shout of alarm before it could get too loud. He dragged the guard’s limp body into the roundhouse and nodded at Mayhem. “Good job.”

She nodded enthusiastically, looking like she wanted to give a yip of excitement. But she bit it back, now a seasoned war dog.

War dogs…

“Cade,” I whispered. “What about the war dogs? The ones who hunted us?”

He looked at Mayhem. “Can you go distract them so they don’t let up the alarm? They might not sense us, but just in case.”

Mayhem nodded and zoomed out of the house, ready to take care of her fellow canines.

“Handy to have a pug dragon,” I said.

“Very.” Cade crept to the edge of the door and peered out. “The torches are all doused, and the camp is quiet.”

“There will be sentries.”

“They may be asleep. But can you conceal us?”

I reached into my pocket, making sure I still had the heavenly transport charm. “Yes. But we should hold hands since we can’t see each other.”

He shifted his sword to his other hand and reached for mine. I gripped his palm, then used my magic to make us invisible. It shivered over us.

“To the fighters’ quarters first,” I said. “We’ll release them so they can break into the armory. When we’ve got Rowan, I’ll set up the alarm, and they can start to fight.”

“I’ll stay with them and see it done, then join you back at the Protectorate.”

“You’re really sure that same portal will be there?”

He nodded. “It’s been there thousands of years. I have faith.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

We crept out of the roundhouse, keeping our footsteps as silent as we could. The village was eerily quiet at this hour, the total lack of sounds of modern life making it feel weird.

We passed several smaller roundhouses before finding the large one at the edge of the village. It looked just as Maira had described, down to the worn-out track leading from the door. The track that hundreds of fighters had trod before being forced to fight for their lives so that Cocidius would have some entertainment.

Rage burned in my chest, a renewed commitment to take the bastard out. And everyone who participated in this miserable operation.

It was truly the worst of humanity, a stew of violence and aggression that did nothing good for the world.

“Lighten up,” Cade whispered.

I realized that I was squeezing the hell out of his hand and loosened my grip.

There were only two guards at the door, which didn’t seem like many until I saw the massive wooden bar.

No way the prisoners could get out to overtake the guards.

“I’ll take the left,” I murmured.

Cade let go of my hand, and we split up, each of us heading for our guard. I raised my sword and sliced him right through the throat. I really needed to start mixing up my kill shots, but this one was just so effective.

He fell to the ground, gurgling on his own blood.

Cade’s guard fell silently as well, and we lifted up the heavy bar that kept the door locked.

When I opened the door and saw all the fighters trapped inside, caged animals just waiting for a fight to the death, I didn’t feel guilty about killing the guards.

We were going to take these bastards out.