Page 99 of A Dagger in the Ivy

What is fucking happening here?

The pit is a rough circle carved into the earth, its walls high and slick with mud, making escape impossible. The scent of sweat and fear mingle with the earthy dampness. Torbin stands at the edge of the pit, a cruel smile playing on his lips. His eyes gleam with a predatory hunger, and he raises his hand to silence the murmurs of the crowd.

“Bring forth the challengers!” His voice cuts through the night like a knife.

His words send a shiver down my spine, and I can feel the dread creeping up as the Dulcamaran soldiers move to obey. The riders, once strong and defiant, now cower in their cages, their faces pale and lips trembling. Their eyes dart between each other and the pit that awaits them. One of the men grips the bars of his cage so tightly, his knuckles turn white, as if he might somehow hold back the inevitable. The other flinches when the soldiers approach, his body shaking, shoulders slumped in defeat. Both men look as though they’ve already lost the fight before it’s even begun.

The soldiers drag them to the edge of the pit, and I can see the desperation in their every movement—the frantic, shallow breaths, the way their feet resist the pull—but they’re too weak, too broken to put up much of a struggle. They’re thrown into the pit without ceremony, their cries letting loose, and they land with heavy thuds.

Torbin steps forward, peering down at them with an unsettling calmness. His breaths are heavy, the evidence in the rise and fall of his bare chest. “These men before you have a chance to win their freedom,”he tells the crowd. “A chance to escape the cage and become part of my army.”

Part of his army? They’ll never agree to that.

“Within the confines of this pit,” he says, now addressing the two riders, “you will fight each other.”

The rumble of noise from the carnoraxis begins to amplify, a clear indication of the thrill this challenge brings them.

“You will fight to the death,” Torbin exclaims.

I stiffen, my heart racing and my stomach weighed down by a stone of dread.

“If either of you refuses, you will both be torn apart, piece by piece.” Torbin gestures to the carnoraxis. “But if you fight… one of you will live to see another day.”

The riders exchange horrified glances, their expressions a mix of disbelief and despair. They have no choice but to concede; Torbin’s cruel ultimatum leaves them with no alternative.

Torbin lets the tension hang in the air for a moment before continuing, a twisted smile curling at the edges of his lips. “To assure you don’t back down, I will join you.”

The captured riders in the cages gasp, their eyes darting between Torbin and the men who stand trembling in the pit, their fists clenched in a futile show of bravery. The carnoraxis shriek, bouncing on their heels like animals who can feel the tension in the air. Torbin’s men sneer and laugh, clearly taking delight in this sick game.

I watch as a cloaked figure approaches Torbin, his movements swift and secretive. The man—one of the Shadow Tsar’s followers, no doubt—hands Torbin a small vial filled with a swirling, dark liquid. The moment Torbin’s fingers close around it, a chill runs down my spine.

“What is that?” I demand, my voice tight with suspicion.

Torbin turns to me, a smug grin spreading across his face as he holds the vial up to the light. “This, Celeste, is the key to everything. The key to power beyond imagination.”

Torbin’s eyes gleam with a twisted ambition as he steps closer to me, holding the vial in his hand like a sacred relic.

I try to draw back, to put more distance between me and Torbin’s vial, but my back hits the stake, pinning me in place. I’m suddenly filled with the fear that Torbin intends to poison us or put us under the same spell to which he’s fallen victim—if that’s what it truly is. I spare Dante a glance. He’s hanging on by a thread, but at least he’s still breathing.

“You don’t understand, Celeste,” Torbin says, his voice low and fervent. “This isn’t just about power for power’s sake. The Shadow Tsar has shown me the truth—the way to bring all the realms under one rule, to create an empire where none can challenge our might. He’s promised me a high position of power over the realms, a seat second in command to him as we reshape the world.”

I search his face, hoping to see some trace of the man to whom I am betrothed, but I don’t see him anywhere.

He raises the vial, the liquid inside pulsing with a dark energy. “The tsar’s alchemist has perfected this potion, a blend of ancient magic that holds the power to give the carnoraxis their strength. This is the potion that can turn a man into one of my faithful creatures.”

My breath catches in my throat, and the world seems to tilt beneath me. I feel the blood drain from my face as his words sink in, leaving me cold and numb. The carnoraxis are… transformed men. Though I had no idea what the origins of the creatures were, I imagined that they were a species that existed in secret for centuries, brought out now to do the tsar’s will. Butpeople? Bile rises in my throat at the thought of humans being transformed into the vile beasts against their will.

“But with the right dosage mixed with select ingredients, I can be granted the same power without becoming one of them. This concoction will deem me unstoppable—no one will dare defy me, not kings, not armies, not even you. And you… combined with your fae powers, you could have all this too, Celeste. As my bride. We could rule together, ruling just under the powerful tsar. Think about how strong we would be. How powerful. No one would dare cross us. If anyone dared, they would crumble at our feet.”

I shake my head, my lips trembling.

He pauses, his gaze penetrating as he searches my eyes, trying to pullme into his twisted vision. “Join me, Celeste. This is your chance to claim everything you’ve ever wanted.”

I exhale a heavy breath of defiant fury. If he thinks hostile power and control is everything I ever wanted, he doesn’t know me at all. “Never.”

As Torbin sneers at me, a sickening sense of dread washes over me, knotting my stomach with apprehension. Hundreds of carnoraxis loom around us, their eerie shrieks filling the air with an otherworldly cacophony that sets my nerves on edge.

“Eventually, you will give in to me, Celeste. You will see the light.”

---