my gaze to the side. Eyes seemed to glow like beacons in the darkness, grabbing on to me, yanking me back up, filling my lungs with air. I jolted as our gazes collided.
Warwick sat in his usual place, leaning back and angled to one side, his hand propped underneath his chin like he was watching a dull movie, but his gaze was sharp, burning into me.
My lids shut briefly, and I swallowed against the feeling that he stood right in front of me, his aura circling, touching me.
“Glorious.” I twisted around toward the voice behind me. Zander stood there with his expression blank, but his eyes were twinkling. “Your stomach is full. You took.” A smile hinted on his face. “You prevailed.”
“I prevailed.”
“Good.” He moved past me to Mio’s body. I watched him for a second before my gaze snapped back up the king’s spot in the stands.
Empty.
Leaving me feeling as if I had imagined the whole thing.
Strolling out of the arena, covered in blood, the cries of my new moniker against my back, I slipped down the dark tunnel away from the exhibition.
Mio’s death revealed one thing to the masses.
This fish had become a piranha.
The guards escorted me to a healer for my leg wound, who cleaned it and gave me medicine before I headed to the showers where a fresh uniform waited for me—a perk for winning.
Under the spray of water, blood swirled pink around my feet, slipping toward the drain. The blood churned, Mio’s and mine together, before disappearing. My arms shook as I pressed my palms to the tile, trying to keep myself up, the ringing in my ears and buzz of adrenaline receding dramatically.
My body responded fully to the night’s events, falling from the high, but my mind was still numb to the fact I murdered Mio. It was for survival. It could easily be her bleeding in this shower instead of me, but the idea of killing a fellow human to entertain crowds coiled my heart and stomach in disgust.
“Two minutes!” A guard yelled at me, the same one who retrieved me from the hole. Scar Lip, I called him in my head. He seemed particularly fond of the shower shift. “Come on, fishy.” He leered at me. “Need help getting dressed this time?”
Wrapping myself with my towel, I strolled assertively over to him, staring up without a hint of fear. He sucked in at my proximity, still trying to keep the smirk on his face. His eyes tracked down my figure, the water dripping and sliding over my bruised and broken skin.
“Piranha,” I said, leaning closer. “And you ever touch me again, I will tear the flesh from your bones and use them to pick your remains from my teeth.”
He blinked, shocked at my words, but quickly shoved it away, pressing in closer to me. “You think because you killed one weak human, you’re invincible now?” His eyes ran down me again. “I could do anything I wanted to you right now, and not only could you not stop me, no one else would either.”
“Your deep insecurity about your manhood is showing,” I replied, ignoring the cold fear his words set in my bones. He was probably right about no one helping, but I would never show him he could break me. “Guess it’s not just a human male trait.” Comparing a fae to a human was a great insult. The fae believed themselves so far above such follies, but the longer the worlds mixed, the more each took on attributes of the other.
“You bitch,” he seethed, lurching for me. My fist rammed into his Adam’s apple, his body stumbling back as he clawed at his windpipe.
“Tsk. Tsk.” I clicked my tongue. “You know the rules. You can’t touch me.” It was something Tad told me. Once you were in the Games, no guard could rough you up. They wanted their fighters to be at their prime to put on the best show.
“No fun watching a fighter who’s already beaten to a pulp in the ring, giving no fight,” Tad had said. “They want the prisoners so distracted by the spectacle to not think about the fact they are doing their dirty work for them. Killing fellow inmates, keeping down the numbers, while they cheer you on to do it again is really sick, but people love it until it’s their name thrown into the ring.”
The guard hissed at me, his lids lowering to slits. With a leap, he grabbed my throat, squeezing