Page 119 of A City of Flames

I hiss through my teeth at the horrid sound just as another male saunters into the pit. Dark long strands, pale complexion and Merati tattoos on his hands.

Recognition pulses into me so that I feel it through my neck, which seems about to burst and slowly, I shake my head. It’s the shifter I’d gone to for answers. He’s fighting Darius.

It’s hard to blink into focus, the heat of the sun scorches at the crown of my head but I will myself to concentrate, to not faint in the middle of this, Solaris forbid that were to happen.

And seeing the shifter again brings back unpleasant memories. Because of me, he is the cause of everyone finding out about the Neoma blood, the same one who screamed in pain. I’d even felt sorry for him but now watching as he paces to each side, eyeing Darius up and down with a smile, I don’t anymore.

“He’ll be fine,” Freya tries to reassure me, though her voice tells me otherwise. “He carries the three powers of a shifter, if anything—”

“He’s also been weakened by Neoma tree blood.” I sigh in frustration. “I doubt they did that for the other shifter.” Considering he looks healthier than when I first saw him. “It’s not a fair fight,” I say to Link and Freya, knowing it never has been before, for any creature.

Link gives me a sympathetic look, then someone from above us yells for the fight to start. I glare at him despite the fact that he isn’t looking at me, and that’s when I turn around again only to be taken aback by the flash of bright light coming from the shifter.

I place my hand up to my forehead, squinting before a roar quietens the crowd and the shifter’s claws slam onto the ground, fully transformed. Darius doesn’t so much as flinch, unlike the people around me; he tilts his head as he raises his hand to the side and flecks of fire spark off his fingertips.

“Is he—is he not going to shift?” Link asks, his tone cautious but I keep my gaze locked on Darius as the shifter springs toward him. Luckily, Darius rolls out of the way before the shifter can get to him. Stealth and precision ripple off him like he knows what tactic to take. The shifter on the other hand shakes his head from the fall and puffs air out of his snout, ready to charge at him again.

“He’s going to try and wear the Merati shifter out,” I say quietly, my heart racing with unfounded certainty.

The shifter snarls, creeping forward, one claw taps the ground, slow and ominous, but Darius keeps his eye on every single one of his moves. And when the shifter pounces, Darius blinds him by flaring a flame up in the air.

I bite my lower lip out of nerves, watching the shifter go at him, each time failing. The audience groan, growing tired, as if they’d hoped one would be dead by now. The irony is not lost on me, watching the humans act more animalistic than the dragons themselves.

Huffing, my eyes stay glued each moment Darius dodges an attack. Fight and win, I say in my head, then realize with disbelief that for the first time, I want him to win. I don’t know why I pray he can hear me, it’s the single thought I have since the last fight where the Ardenti heard me, connected with me. For whatever unknown reason I was able to give her confidence. But Darius... he doesn’t look my way once; he doesn’t know I’m here.

Fight and win, fight and win, fight—

A line of dust rises in the air and seconds go by where I can’t see anything until—until it clears and everyone around me screams in excitement. I lunge forward by impulse before Freya pulls me back just as the shifter lands on top of Darius, snapping his jaws down at him. Darius crosses his arms, keeping the shifter mere centimeters away from his face.

People in front of us block our view and I twist my head to Freya. She already has that look in her eyes, the kind where she’s telling me to stay put but I shake my head and slip from her grip, moving in between two men. I meander through others, peering over shoulders to get a better look.

Sweat and dirt seep into my nose as arms flail in the air and then a thud from the pit prompts the crowd to clamor in delight. I make it right to the other side, up against the railings and in perfect view of Darius and the shifter.

Except the shifter is no longer on him, he’s at the opposite end while Darius staggers to his feet, pressing his hand to his upper arm. Blood trickles past his fingers and he gives it a quick glance before his eyes are on the shifter.

The shifter is nowhere near worn out, it’s like he has twice as much energy. Irked, I gaze over at the queen toying with her golden rings, she’s smiling as if finally, the fun has begun for her.

I chew the inside of my cheek, breathing as hard as anyone else would be and turn my head just in time to see the shifter spreading his wings and taking flight, as far as the chains will let him.

No, no, no, Darius shift— “Shift!” I shout, but the noises from the crowd drown me out. The shifter dives downward, his wings tuck in and I let out a small gasp right as he approaches Darius.

Yet one, two, three... seconds is all Darius needs as he crosses one arm over the other in front of him and bows his head before dark shadows encase him, making the shifter divert himself onto the floor. Swirls of silver glisten from within Darius and then he emerges, no longer in human form, but a dragon.

Murmurs of suprise run through the entire arena. I’ve only seen Darius like this once, but I had been too weak, too delirious, and I could barely make out it was a dragon saving me in that forest. Now I’m witnessing the full extent of him, the strength he possesses as both human and a dragon. My gaze caresses each part of him in fascination, from his silver scales shimmering among the obsidian leather skin, to the two horns curving at the head as if it were a crown.

Despite the same large build as the other shifter, Darius possesses something else, something I imagine goes beyond his powers.

I release a trembling breath, my chest heaving as I look to Darius’s wings spreading. The right stretches out to a perfect point but the left... just like he’d told me, is severed completely at the top. Light streams between the thick skin emphasizing scar lines running down the curve where his wing had been sliced.

I can’t imagine what it must feel like for a shifter, not being able to do the one thing you were born to do, then again, the queen and venators don’t give them the privilege of doing that unless they want to be caught.

Wishing for this to end already, all I can do is watch as Darius and the shifter stumble and claw at each other. Sharp teeth clash on leather skin, screeches come from them both before Darius sends the shifter flying back.

The stands rumble under my feet from the shifter smashing against the sides of the arena walls. A low snarl leaves Darius as he approaches him, the anticipation is so intense that I want to close my eyes—and that is something I’m not used to thinking.

Darius stops inches away and it’s as if my heart does too. The shifter still hasn’t gotten up, but Darius drops his head, sounds of pain emerge from him as he collapses to the floor and shifts back into a human. He clutches the sides of his head and I realize that the shifter is using his Merati powers. Whatever it is, he’s inflicting pain, hallucinations, anything.

Shit—

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