Chapter 25 · Don't Lose. Don't Win.

The screens went dark for exactly three seconds. Long enough for Sloane to cross the platform and grab my wrist.

"Listen fast," she hissed. "We fight. We make it look real. You don't win."

I yanked back. "Your family put my sister on that thing."

"I know." Her grip tightened. Blue light still leaked from the cracks in the throne behind us, and Lena's face was burned into my brain. Pale. Empty. Wrong. "And if you win, they'll put you up there instead. If I win, my brother's next. So we don't lose and we don't win."

"That's not how this works."

"It is now." She let go and stepped back, her blade familiar already forming along her forearm. Silver. Sharp. The cameras were coming back online. I could feel the hum building in the air. "Hit me."

"What?"

"Hit me, Mara. Make it look good."

Nox rippled at my feet. The shadow was still buzzing with whatever it had been before. When it used Mom's voice. Don't give me to them. I shoved the memory down and pulled Nox up my arm instead. It resisted for half a second, then wrapped around my fist like black glass.

Sloane smiled.