House of Dragons (Royal Houses #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,118

were usually smaller fights. Nothing this big. Definitely nothing to the death. Dozan was offering a rare treat indeed. Likely as many people in the audience wanted to see her blood spill as those who wanted to see her take down someone like Basem. Bets rained down on the awaiting spectacle.

Kerrigan tuned it all out. Just centered herself under the lanterns that illuminated the space. She breathed in through her nose and carefully out through her mouth. Discipline. This was what she had been training for. And Basem Nix had no idea.

The announcer was calling out some other nonsense and then ceded the floor to Dozan. Kerrigan turned her face up. She had been waiting for this. Her vision had shown her in the Dragon Ring with Dozan standing over her, just as he was now. She had tried to walk away from it, but of course, she’d still ended up here.

Both opponents waited for his signal, tensed and ready.

Then Dozan called out, “Begin!”

Basem grinned and launched toward her. She brought up everything she knew about him from their first fight. Affinity for earth. Small drop of water magic. Used his strength to overpower his enemies. Trained with an air Fae. Ambushes over one-on-one combat.

“Know your enemy, and if you don’t know your enemy, anticipate their mistakes.”

He stomped his foot, and Kerrigan reflexively stepped to the side. The chunk of rock went flying wide, right where she had been standing. The last time she’d fought, he had pummeled her with rock that she hadn’t been able to anticipate. She’d won because she’d gotten mad and unleashed that anger. Not for any real skill. She had been as much brute strength as he was.

Basem continued to volley rocks at her as she nimbly evaded them. “Come out. Come out, girl,” he snarled. “You can’t run forever.”

Truly, she could. She could run until he ran out of magic or collapsed from the effort. But she had no plan to.

The next rock he lobbed at her, she circled around it, using its momentum to slingshot it back to Basem. A sickening crunch erupted throughout the ring as it collided with Basem’s chest. He stumbled back one step, and his eyes burned a deep dark brown and went wide with anger.

“I didn’t plan to run forever,” she taunted right back.

Basem expected her to retaliate with air. That had been her main element at the last fight, and so she gave him exactly what he’d expected. She stepped forward and sliced her hand down, the wind listening to her every move as it cut through his chest. He avoided the next one and the next before kicking at the earth under his feet. It ricocheted throughout the arena, and the rock under her own feet erupted upward. She was propelled forward. But instead of being thrown off-balance with the force, she used it to vault upward, do a somersault midair, and then come back at him with an arc of flames.

Basem barely moved enough to bring up a shield of water to dispel the flames into steam. Kerrigan landed as gracefully as a cat on her feet on the other side of the ring.

“New tricks,” Basem growled as he forced the water to do his bidding.

Kerrigan dispelled it with ease, taking the water he’d thrown at her and bringing it into her magic. He didn’t have enough water magic to overpower her. His best bet was still earth.

“Same tricks,” she said back as she tossed the water aside. It wasn’t her best element either. “I thought this was going to be a fight.”

Basem reacted as she’d expected him to—with a vengeance. He went entirely on the offensive, slinging rocks and then trying to trap her with the earth at her feet. She evaded the rocks and used the chunk of rock he had tried to cage her with to propel it back toward his face. He barely got out of the way in time.

She watched his sloppy footwork and increasing heavy breathing. He was tiring and fast. No wonder he didn’t do his own dirty work. She had never been more thankful for all those runs with Fordham.

Kerrigan matched him pace for pace, using air to dispel his attacks and floating to avoid his wrath. She knew she was going to have to play up the offensive to get the crowd on her side, but this fight was about so much more than that. And she needed to keep it going for longer than she’d