“He was worth everything I’ve endured, everything I will endure.” She wore such a nasty expression for such a beautiful mouth. “And you’ve never felt its like.”
Anger lifted in Leto’s chest. Almost pain. Almost shame. Because she was right.
Blink. Kick to the lower back. Scream.
This time she didn’t fall. She whirled on the balls of her feet. The blaze of her silvery eyes caught with his. An uncanny glow stopped him cold.
Fireworks.
He tried to shake away the illusion, but they remained. Intensified. Thousands of fireworks bubbled inside a concentrated circle between Nynn’s hands. Sparks. Pinging blasts of flame. All trapped in a circle of energy that built and built. A balloon ready to burst. Nynn’s face contorted. Sweat trailed down her cheeks. She shrieked with the fury of a Pendray in the throes of a full berserker rage.
The bubble burst. Leto scrambled out of its path, but even he wasn’t fast enough.
Pure concussive force threw him against the mesh steel. He hit face-first and grunted. Had he landed on the brushed concrete of the genuine Cage, he would’ve busted both kneecaps. He couldn’t hear. With any more force, she would’ve broken every bone in his chest.
He used the mesh steel to climb to his feet, ready to defend himself.
But Nynn was on her knees. She breathed heavily. Her arms shook.
He hadn’t expected her to leave her first Cage match with all four limbs. Instead, she possessed the most remarkable gift he’d ever witnessed. Like a volcano bursting its top—and flinging out its burning, breakneck debris.
Nynn merely rasped, “What was that?”
Then she sagged onto the Cage floor.
He staggered forward. His senses slowly returned, as did the use of his powers. But he had no opponent to face.
From a distant corner of the arena room came the sound of slow, deliberate clapping. A shuffle and the thump of a cane followed. Leto scanned the darkness. He found the source. Entirely bald and pushing eighty years, Old Man Aster emerged into the light. His maniacal grin carved wrinkles into the strange pantomime of a clown’s smile. He was only missing the face paint. His sallow complexion—after having spent most of the last five decades belowground—was eerie enough.
No matter his value to the Asters, Leto never failed to be taken aback by that warped, skeletal appearance.
“I told you, didn’t I?” His voice was smooth, cultured, but scratched by his advanced age. “I told you she was amazing. She’ll rival you one day, my champion.”
Leto straightened to his full height. Within the Cage, he had the higher vantage, but that didn’t matter when staring into his master’s eyes. His pride twitched at the implication of those words. “Is that what you want, sir? For her to best me?”
“No, Leto. You will help me take down the other cartels. Permanently.” He nodded toward Nynn’s fallen body. “To do so, you will fight with Malnefoley’s cousin . . . as your partner.”
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Jeaniene Frost
This title was previously published in the anthology Haunted by Your Touch.
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First Pocket Star Books eBook edition November 2012
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ISBN 978-1-4516-9816-9
Jeaniene Frost, Night's Darkest Embrace
(Series: # )
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