Chapter 11 · The First Ring Match

The arena rose above Asterfall like a second sun.

Nora felt its heat before the lift doors opened. It poured through the seams of the brass carriage, carrying the scent of hot metal, stormglass, and thousands of bodies packed shoulder to shoulder. Somewhere beyond the doors, the crowd roared with the restless appetite of a beast that had been promised blood.

Kane stood opposite her, one hand braced against the carriage wall. The silver restraints around his wrists had been removed for the match, but thin bands of blue light still crawled beneath his skin. Every pulse of them made the air taste like copper.

Nora’s left shoulder throbbed beneath its bandages. Her wrist burned where the marriage contract had bitten into her. The ring was back on her finger now, locked into place by the registrar’s crystal and impossible to remove without tearing through bone.

She glanced at Kane. “You look terrible.”

His eyes shifted toward her. “You look worse.”

“Good. Then we’re evenly matched.”

A corner of his mouth moved. It was not quite a smile, but it was close enough to make something inside her ribs loosen.

The carriage jolted.