Chapter 15 · Bride of the Stormfield

The arena doors opened on a scream of wind.

Nora Vey tightened the leather strap around her injured thigh and stepped into the Stormfield.

The floating platform stretched beyond the edge of sight, a circular island of black glass suspended above Asterfall’s lower districts. Clouds boiled beneath it. Lightning moved through them in pale veins, illuminating the city’s underside: broken bridges, hanging gardens, furnace towers, and the distant glow of the undercity where people lived beneath the nobles’ shadows.

A thousand spectators filled the tiers around the field. Their voices rolled through the air like surf.

“Bride of the storm!” someone shouted.

“Show us the thunder heir!”

“Take their rings!”

The last chant caught. It multiplied from balcony to balcony until the entire arena was roaring for their capture.

Nora’s right arm burned beneath its bandages. Her left leg trembled every time she put weight on it. She had repaired a collapsing noble tower less than an hour ago, survived an attempted abduction, and learned that losing this match would strip her of her contract ring—and make her legally ownable by the victor.

Apparently, the arena considered that a reasonable afternoon.

Beside her, Kane Rhoan rolled one shoulder.