I ran a wrapped hand through my hair and gave Roth my full attention. He was right. If I couldn’t get my head in the fight, I’d get myself killed and Laila would lose her shot at getting back home.
For the rest of the afternoon, I sparred with the demons who lived in Roth’s house. Roth and I were in the middle of a match when a voice cut through the gym.
“What the heck are you two doing?” Laila demanded.
My gaze swung to her, and Roth’s next punch caught me in the jaw.
“Focus, dammit,” he snarled.
“I need a break,” I said, not looking away from Laila.
“You aren’t going to get to call the shots on tournament day no matter what happens. If you let your audience distract you, it’ll all be over.”
“I don’t really give a fuck about that right now,” I gritted out, blocking his next punch. “I need to talk to her. Now.”
Roth backed off. “Ten minutes, kid. You have ten minutes.” And then he walked out the door, not even glancing at Laila as he passed her.
“What’s going on?” Laila asked, but I had a feeling she already had an idea. “Why is Roth acting like a drill sergeant?”
“You remember what Abadon said last night about how the only way into Lucifer’s palace was to win a tournament?”
She gave me a wary look. “Yes…”
“Sathanas is holding a cage-fighting tournament in two weeks.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You can’t.”
“Laila.”
“Abadon said it’s a fight to the death and that demons train their whole lives for this.”
I let out a breath. “I’ve been training to fight demons for years. I’ve killed more demons than I can count since joining the secret order. And even before that, fighting was always what called to me. I was made to do this, Laila. For the first time in two hundred years, I understand why I was given this desire. It all led to this moment, this tournament.”
She was still shaking her head. “There has to be a different way.”
“There isn’t.”
“I don’t care,” she whispered. “I don’t care if we never leave the Devil’s court. It’s not worth the risk.”
“Sweetness, you know that’s not an option. We can’t live here forever.”
“You would rather die than stay here with me?”
“First of all, I’m not going to die. Secondly, I’d love nothing more than to stay with you, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, to see you every day, knowing that I had the chance to get you out of here and didn’t take it.”
“And what about what I want?”
“Laila, please don’t ask me to sit back and do nothing. This is who I am. This is what I do, have done for longer than you’ve been alive. I’m a fighter—it’s in my heart and soul.”
I saw the inner struggle in her green eyes. I got it. There were no good options.
“Come here,” I murmured, not at all sure if she found me comforting at the moment.
She stayed by the door for a long second while my heart tried to collapse in my chest, and then she ran into my arms.
I held her tightly, lowering my face to the crook of her neck and inhaling her scent, feeling it settle in my bones. “I know you’re worried, but I need you to trust me. I can do this.”
“Did you mean it when you told me you’d do anything for me?” she asked, her voice somewhat muffled by my T-shirt.
