Page 76 of Rise of a Fallen Man

“When you’re in the arena, I don’t watch anyone else,” she confessed, running a hand over the scars on my arm. “Though it costs me years of my life when I see you get hurt.”

“This time, it was you who got hurt.”

The deep scratches bled on her shoulders. It was my fault. I failed to keep her safe. Guilt and worry burned through my chest and tied my stomach into knots. No one had assigned to me the task of protecting the princess, but her safety and her happiness had become my mission. And I failed.

“Careful.” I hugged her to me, yanking her away from the path of yet another fire blast.

Led by Lerrel, the gladiators were running toward us from the opposite end of the arena. The royal guards tried to make their way to us from the left. They were closer to us than the gladiators, but the fire breathing worms kept them at bay.

Why were the worms still here? Why didn’t Lerrel order to close the tunnels? I feared something must’ve gone terribly wrong, not only allowing the dragon to get loose but also blocking the mechanisms inside the arena.

Cutting off the gladiators on their way to our rescue, the dragon soared toward us again. The guards raised their crossbows, but their arrows bounced off the dragon’s scales, leaving the creature unharmed.

Nothing could stop him.

Ari gathered her train again, but scorched and tattered, it was no longer wet enough to hold back the dragon’s fire.

I stepped in front of her, shielding her with my body.

“Salas. No.” She gripped my arm, but I didn’t know how else to protect her.

We were trapped on a small patch of sand, surrounded by the gazers of fire shooting from the ground, with the dragon heading straight at us.

I lifted my sword, but the weapon was too short to reach the dragon before his fire would annihilate us. I knew it. I knew we stood no chance. The only choice we had was either to die from the fire of the worms or from the flames of the dragon.

“I’m with you.” Ari stepped forward, taking a place at my side.

She gazed at me, and I realized she knew it too. She knew this might be our last moment.

“We’ll stay together,” she said.

Together.

She and I. As it should be. As it always should’ve been.

Regret, anger, and fear raged inside me. I couldn’t let her die. I had more to lose than ever. She gave me everything in my life that was worth fighting for.

My hands flexed on the sword’s handle. My fingers suddenly turned transparent, mirroring the arena. I stared at the reflection in disbelief. It hadn’t happened to me in so long, I’d almost forgotten why it existed.

Unconquerable fear filled me. But it didn’t make me want to hide. It urged me to protect. My fear was not for myself, but for Ari, and it burned through me stronger than fire.

The flame of the worms reflected in my hands. Ari leaned into my side. And instead of trying to contain my fear, for the first time ever, I let it take over me completely.

I let the terror rage through me, filling me with rage too. Inferno stormed all around me, and I blended with it.

I became the storm.

I ruled the flames, sending them toward the dragon.

Chapter 20

Ari

Fire shot from underground. It leaped onto Salas’s hands, engulfing them in flames.

“You’re burning!” I screamed and tossed the train of my dress over his hands, trying to beat the fire off his body. But the flames didn’t die. They grew even stronger, bursting through the fabric and spiraling around his sword.

“Don’t be afraid, Princess,” he said in a strangled but eerily calm voice. “Let me fear for you.”

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