Page 21 of Fae Champion

“Fighters, begin!” Azariah announced, his voice booming throughout the stands.

Selwin grinned maniacally, brought his hands to either side of his body, and faced them toward me.

A flare like lightning crackled in the flat of his palms.

Knees partially bent, I bounced on the balls of my feet and watched energy build in Selwin’s palms. I hoped there’d be some kind of warning sign before he launched his magical attack at me. I didn’t know how fast his magic might travel, only that it would be unbound by the limitations of the physical body.

It was an unfair battle—not that the queen cared. She’d be counting on it.

I registered that Selwin had thrown an arc of light at me only after my body was moving.

I dove to one side, hit the ground at a roll, and was back up on my feet before he could cast another. But he didn’t wait an instant before hurling at me the energy he had ready and waiting in his other hand.

Again, I dove and rolled, but his strike hit the ground an inch away from where my foot had just been.

Way too close.

Back to standing, I spun toward him, my gut sinking when I noticed the crackling magic already two-thirds of the way charged in both hands. I wouldn’t be able to keep this up. I needed a plan better than dodging his attacks while I ran around the arena. Sooner or later, he’d catch me.

But I had no better idea.

On instinct alone, I crouched to touch the earth at my feet. It responded to me with a sizzling surge.

That alone wouldn’t protect me.

Another arc of lightning zoomed toward me.

I jumped out of the way. As the flash caught the edge of my boot, searing a hole through the wompa leather, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

A furious Rush straining to reach me, his friends holding him back.

The next strike came.

Again my instincts saved me. I leapt out of the waya split second before Selwin’s magic crashed to the ground I’d just occupied, opening a small crater the size of my head.

Damn.

Unsure what else to do, and needing the time and space to think that I didn’t have, I tore off at a full sprint, zigging and zagging away from Selwin.

Our audience erupted with sneers, cackles, and laughter. A single call of, “Use your magic!” reached me.Thanks, buddy.As if I hadn’t already thought of that…

Magic was a given with the fae. Never before had I so greatly resented the fact that my mother was a human. If I’d been a full-blooded fae, I would have had magic.

A better chance at survival.

To my right, the ground erupted in a blast of dirt. I veered left, then zagged again. I was nearly beneath the royal balcony when the whistle of magic zipped behind me—too close.

Without thinking about where I’d land, I leapt?—

A grip like that of the viscount himself slammed against my calf, followed immediately after by a burning pain as if the very sun were wrapping around my leg.

Shoulder first, I smacked into the ground, the impact so jarring that for several terrifying moments my vision blurred. When it returned to normal, I discovered myself looking at the giant frogs. My head was turned to the side, pebbles digging into the skin of myforehead, as the frogs blinked at me over and over again with their huge, impassive eyes.

The miniature settlements housed within the spheres they carried were as close as I’d ever get to exploring the rest of the mirror world.

Gasps and cries of alarm were crisp and thunderous behind me—strange. And Azariah, out of my field of view, exclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, critters and beasts, the Lady Elowyn, our surprise upstart, is down. Things aren’t looking good for her. Viscount Selwin Hewett is on his way to dispatch with her now.”

Dispatch with her. What a gentle euphemism for what was to come.

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