They say time marches on, but in the weeks leading up to the final battle of the tournament, it was more like a slow crawl. Every day was filled with anxiety and paranoia. My father refused to let me leave the mansion grounds out of fear that Melanie would have someone snatch me away again, to hold me hostage in case the fight turned against them. I spent most of my days pacing the halls, ignoring the voice in my head that told me to call Matthias and let him in on the deal I’d made with my father. I’d promised I wouldn’t. I’d also promised I wouldn’t get the SPA involved. Yet every day was a struggle to keep to the plan.

Truthfully, there was something else holding me back from contacting Matthias. Despite his apologies, I couldn’t fully bring myself to forgive him. I missed him. Desperately. But not enough to bring myself to call him. I knew that the moment I heard his voice, I would crack, and if there had ever been a moment when I needed to be fully intact, it was this one.

There would be time later, I told myself. After Melanie was dealt with and the tournament was called off. When life went back to normal. Whatever that meant. Only then would I decide what to do with Matthias.

On the day of the final battle, I rose early and prepared for the event, taking painstaking care over every detail. The outcome of the night was out of my hands. All I could do was control the small things.

Marilyn escorted me to the battle. Her presence only made me miss Jupiter more. I hoped my sister had kept her word and ensured her comfort. If she hadn’t … I’d see to her myself.

Low drumming greeted us in the rooms deep below the earth. Each beat as ominous as the stone walls that swallowed me up as I took my place on the dais beside my father. The final battle was set to begin within minutes. staging for the fights had progressively gotten creepier. The first, in the open air, the second in a silver cage, the finale was set in the dungeon my father had built beneath the mansion. The dark labyrinth extended two stories into the ground was always damp and cold, regardless of the season. I hated the feeling of being subterranean. Something about the air wasn’t right.

Even knowing what I was walking into, my steps were grudging. I didn’t want to go on, to see the gleeful faces of those in the crowd, their excitement at an all-time fever pitch over the impending fight. The hallways were lit with torches mounted on the walls or carried by the guards that went ahead of us. Most of them were on high alert, though most didn’t know why. They would be told once it was necessary for them to know what was happening outside the walls of the mansion.

We’d done everything we could to make sure everyone would survive the attack, but my skin was still clammy and tight over my clenched muscles.

Applause broke out when we stepped into the large court. While slightly nicer than the dim hallways and cells we’d passed, the room was clearly meant to impose fear on anyone unlucky enough to walk through the doors to face my father’s judgement.

My father took the lead. I followed and tried to conceal my shaking hands in the folds of my full-skirted gown. The worst part was not knowing when or where the attack would start.

Were there vampires in the crowd with hidden smoke bombs, ready to poison those sitting around them? Would they have other weapons? How many of them were there? I kicked myself for not pressing Melanie for more details.

For all I knew, she’d scrapped the plans entirely, assuming Matthias had told me what she was up to. The entire thing could go sideways before it even started. Then what would we do? Would my father let the fight take place as if nothing even happened? Would he assume I lied to him about everything and enjoy watching me squirm through the final match, knowing that one of the two men would emerge as my betrothed and the other … would never see the moon again?

My heart hammered against my ribs and it hurt to take full breaths. Swirling thoughts drowned out my father’s announcements but the world quickly snapped back into focus when the doors at the other end of the cavernous room opened and Matthias appeared.

The crowd went insane, but the pounding in my head muffled them.

A tidal wave of guilt crashed into me so hard my shoulder blades hit the back of the chair as I recoiled away from the dark look in his eyes. His gaze cut through the noise and madness and pierced my chest. Why hadn’t I forgiven him? I’d told him what I thought, but not what I felt. What if I never got the chance?

My father took his seat and Matthias started to turn away. I reached up and held out my hand, my palm facing him. He saw it and stopped. A tiny spark illuminated his eyes and he dropped his chin before reaching up to mirror the gesture.

A loud bang echoed through the chamber and my heart leapt into my throat, cutting off my breath. It was beginning. A dark plume of smoke filled the arena. Then another. And another. Gasps and pain-filled cries immediately rang out through the space, bouncing off the stone walls as everyone scrambled for escape. The smoke was barreling toward the dais. My father looked at me, his expression solemn. I nodded and he rose to his feet.

Below, several things happened at once; Guards seized three vampires who’d reached the exits before anyone else. In the ring, Matthias and Terron stopped fighting, both bent over, their hands clawing at their faces as the silver dust reached them. The rest of the spectators hurried to their feet and scrambled blindly for the exits.

“Stop!” my father roared over the panic and chaos. “Everyone is to remain here. We’re under attack and it is not safe to leave this chamber. The smoke will dissipate and you will all heal from the silver dust. If you leave, you will be struck down by the assailants.”

Screams of terror rang out, punctuating the confusion.

I got up from my seat and slipped on a full-face mask that I’d stowed below my seat. Beside me, my father put on his own. I’d intentionally chosen a long dress that covered the majority of my skin. My hands were protected inside a pair of silk gloves. Only my neck and ears were exposed to the silver dust floating in the air. The guards were all equipped with one as well and I saw them take their positions at the exits of the room, ensuring that everyone stayed inside. They were safe in the dungeon.

“Go,” my father told me. “You know what to do.”

Two guards started passing around masks to the crowd. We hadn’t had enough time to get enough for everyone, but there were enough to shield those in the thickest parts of the smoke. The three vampires seized by the guards were dragged before my father and from the look on his face, their fates would be decided before I came back to the dungeons. The guards had been alerted that anyone who tried to leave immediately after the bombs went off were likely the culprits who’d set them off. I took a moment to study their faces, to wonder what would drive them to turn on their own, but I came up empty.

As much as I loathed life at court and all that came with it, I’d never offer up my fellow vampires on a silver platter to be slaughtered by humans.

Another area in which my sister and I no longer shared common ground.

It struck me, for the dozenth time, how cruel this plan was. It was hard to believe it was really Melanie’s idea and intention. I still didn’t understand why she’d chosen this route of violence and needless suffering when her real issues lay with my father.

I shoved the thoughts aside, knowing I needed to focus on the task ahead, as I raced up the stairs, back into the mansion’s main levels. Breathless, I hurried to one of the first floor bathrooms. I ripped the mask off my face, tied my curls back into a low ponytail, and stepped out of my gown, revealing a black tank top and leggings. In the shower stall, I’d stashed a long saber. It’d been ages since I’d been forced to practice my fighting skills, but as I took a practice swing, I knew it was all under the surface. I secured it in its sheath, slung it onto my back, and left the bathroom.

With one hand on the door, I froze. Footsteps and whispers sounded in the hallway outside. Melanie’s people had breached the house. But how? My father had made sure Kimber’s wards were secured and doubled up. The only way she could have gotten her people past them was if—

I stopped cold.

Kimber was in on it. She was one of Melanie’s informers.

Stars. They had a witch on their side.

This just got a whole lot uglier.

The voices and footsteps faded and I dared to peek out into the hall, my fingers grazing my saber’s handle. I needed to get to a room with a view of the property. Jerrod was supposed to be bringing the turned vampires in to attack Melanie and her humans once they descended on the house.

There was no way I could take on a bunch of humans by myself, not if the goal was to not hurt anyone. Or, at least, not kill anyone. I sucked in a breath and darted into the hall, heading for the back stairs. A low chuckle stopped me in my tracks. I whipped around but wasn’t fast enough. A pair of large hands grasped my wrist, the motion faster than the snap of a whip.

“Well, well, well,” a low, throaty voice purred in my ear. “Looks who’s finally doing what she’s told. A pleasant surprise, Lacey.”

“Jerrod?” I jerked around as far as I could, but my arms were pinned at my sides, my shoulders rotated back at a painful angle. “What are you doing? Let me go!”

“You got lucky last time,” he hissed against my ear as I continued to struggle. “I’m not going to let you catch me off guard this time. You’re mine now.”

Ice slithered over my skin at the implications of his words. “You’re with them?”

Jerrod laughed, his breath felt hot and scratchy against my skin. “I’m an enterprising man, Lacey. I go with whoever can give me the best deal. I know full well that your father fixed my fight. He never wanted me to win the tournament because in his eyes, I’m not good enough for his daughter. Sure, I’m good enough for him to use. He’ll let me bleed for him, do his dirty work, but he wouldn’t let me have you. He won’t let me be one of the nobles.”

“And you think turning on him is going to improve your odds?” I scoffed, still fighting to get free.

“By dawn, there will be a new sheriff in town, one that sees me as an equal.”

I snorted. “Melanie? She might be a vampire but she doesn’t see you as an equal. She sees you as an ant. Something to crush if it gets in her way.”

“We’ll see about that,” he sneered. “Either way, you’re coming with me. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt in the fighting, after all.”

He propelled me down the hall, using his brute strength and pain when needed to keep me moving forward. We passed a bank of windows and I looked out, horrified at the scene in the yard below. Vampires and humans clashed in a sea of fighting. It was like watching a horrible war movie with the volume turned off. Court vampires poured out of the exit carved into the sub levels of the house, and were met by the turned vampires and Melanie’s humans. I couldn’t see Melanie, but I didn’t doubt that she was among the fighters. She wasn’t the type to sit on the sidelines.

“What happened? They were supposed to stay in the dungeon,” I said, not expecting an answer.

“Melanie’s fighters got inside and flushed everyone out. It’s only a matter of time. The Court is outnumbered four to one.”

“Where is my father?” I demanded, straining to get closer to the window.

“Melanie wanted to deal with him personally,” Jerrod answered, a sickening amount of glee in his voice.