His nod was deep and knowing. “Time to embark on what you came here to achieve.”
I inhaled sharply.It can’t be true.
“There is a shadowgala taking place in a month. Just past your nineteenth summer-day, if I have it right.” His smile was small and meant everything. “I’d like you to be one of three fighters to represent the Grimsons there.”
My expression was blank for the longest time. As the announcement came, I was dumbfounded. Blood rushed in my ears from the fight, continuing to pound from the news.
I’ve . . . done it. I’ve made it.
This time, the first and only time, the audience of veteran fightersdidcheer, congratulate and salute me, and pat my back as I exited the ring.
Chapter 16
Overhead, the wheels of a carriage squealed to a stop on the cobbles. A dust cloud fell from the ceiling. Our group stared up longingly through a grate.
We were eight strong, nine including Master Lukain. Rirth, Kemini, and I were the three chosen fighters for the shadowgala. The potential broodstock being sent were Jinneth, Helget, Aelin, and two other young women I didn’t know as well.
The group stayed quiet and anxious, boxed together in a small holding room as the sun’s final rays disappeared from the grate above us. The veil of night arrived, which meant it was time to be off.
Holdmates came to send their well-wishes. Some of us would not be returning—fighters who died in the ring, girls who were chosen as human concubines.
Imis the letter-writer came to my side, smiling devilishly at me. Before I could open my mouth to say anything, she went on her tiptoes and kissed my lips. Hers were soft, and the kiss was innocent if not a bit abrasive.
Unlike when Sister Cyprilis did the same thing to me years before, I did not reel. I simply raised my brow, slightly flustered. “Erm . . .”
“There,” she said, standing back on her heels with a small sigh. “I think I’ve broken the spell.”
“The spell, Imis?”
“My obsession with you as champion of the Grimdaughters. Since you might not come back, I’ll have to let you go. No one else was going to give you a fonder farewell.”
My head slanted, confusion wrinkling my brow. “But you and Palacia . . . are you not, um, together?”
“Oh, we are.” Her smile became expectant. “I needed to prove to myself you were just like any other flesh-and-blood woman. Stronger, yes, but not a deity. I enjoy the fairer sex, as you know, Sephania. Similar to how Rirth and Culiar enjoy each other.”
“They do?” My voice came out more incredulous than I’d meant it to. This was news to me.
She laughed lightly. “Your ambition has blinded you to everything going on outside of your goals, love. You’ve seen how Palacia makes me happy.”
I blushed, averting my gaze. I didn’t need Imis to explain herself to me. This wasnotthe conversation I had expected to have before leaving for my first shadowgala.
Perhaps she was right and I’d not put enough attention on the people around me. My selfishness caused me to forget my friends were living their own lives. They had their ambitions and goals and, apparently, Imis had been fixated on an obsession with me.
Problem was, I felt I’d ignored the desires of my friends because I wasn’t interested in them in the same way.Only Master Lukain awakens any kind of lust inside me.
I recalled the lurid memory of walking in on Imis bent over a table, Palacia thrusting eagerly into her from behind, hands clutching Imis’ hips. The moans that followed me down the tunnel as I dashed from the room in embarrassment. “Yes, Imis,” I eked out, clearing my throat, “I’ve seenmorethan enough of Palacia and how she makes you happy.”
Imis rolled her wrist, explaining herself. “Who better to satisfy my every craving than a hung woman? I get the soft understanding of a woman plus the hardness of a man when I want it. Best of both worlds.” She beamed, shrugging. “Anyway,consider the kiss a good luck charm. From what I hear, you’ll be needing it at the shadowgala.”
She kept smiling, nodded to Jinneth and Aelin near me, and pranced out of the room. I was left blinking, gobsmacked by her unsolicited explanation.
“That quippy waif has a lot to say, yeah?” Jinneth said.
“I feel she just violated my ears with things I shouldnotbe thinking about going into my first life-or-death duel.”
Jinneth chuckled, clapping me hard on the back. “You’ll be good, won’t ya, Sephy. I’m sure you’ll be thinking ‘bout Imis and hersoft understandingthe whole cart-ride over, yeah?”
Aelin snickered at my friend’s words. It seemed she and Jinneth had been getting along better lately since their initial misunderstanding—namely, the taller Aelin trying to worm her way between Jinneth’s legs.
