Chapter 14 · Voidbound - Chapter 14: Blood Gets You In

"You're late." The gate keeper's hand slammed against Kael's chest before he made it three steps into the Pit's loading dock.

Kael stumbled back. The hatchling shifted under his coat, claws digging through the lining into his ribs. He kept his face blank. "Garrick said sunset."

"Garrick says a lot of things." The man—Vex, they called him, all scar tissue and missing teeth—leaned in close enough that Kael could smell the cheap whiskey on his breath. "What's he not saying is that the house odds are tanking because you keep winning ugly."

"Then stop betting against me."

Vex's hand twisted in Kael's collar. "Smart mouth for a kid who's bleeding through his shirt."

Kael looked down. The bandages under his coat had soaked through again. The hatchling's weight pressed against the gashes where its claws had caught him in the collapsed ruin. Every breath pulled at the torn skin.

"I can fight," Kael said.

"Yeah?" Vex shoved him toward the intake counter. "Prove it. Garrick wants you in Ring Three in twenty minutes. Your opponent just made weight."

Kael's stomach dropped.