be freed.
I held it down with all my strength, silently screaming, Move, dammit, move! at Ian.
He didn’t.
Naxos’s hooves kicked up patches of earth as he ran faster. He bent his head, pointing those deadly, sharp horns at Ian’s midsection. My nails dug in harder, and I felt a scream rise. Why wasn’t Ian moving? Why? Those horns would shred him—
Ian jumped high right before Naxos’s horns tore into him. The Minotaur ran beneath him, howling as he realized he’d been tricked. Naxos tried to swing around, but Ian used his downward momentum to full advantage, and launched a two-legged kick right into Naxos’s hindquarters.
The Minotaur sprawled forward face first, horns plowing deep into the earth. The sudden resistance from his horns versus his far heavier body still going forward at full speed had brutal results. The crack! as Naxos’s neck broke and his body pitched over his head was loud enough to reach me.
“Yes!” I shouted.
Ian heard that and grinned, saluting me again. Then, he ran over to where Naxos had left the baton, picked it up, and ran it back to the end of the track.
By the time Ian picked up the discus, Naxos’s neck had healed, and his body was no longer grotesquely folded over the wrong way. He got up, shook his head as if verifying that it was on the right way now, and then glared at Ian while literal steam came from his nostrils.
“He’s made Naxos angry.” Phanes sounded almost surprised. “I’ve never seen Naxos angry before. Things are about to become very bloody.”
Ian sighted down the field at the line that marked the necessary distance for the throw. Then, he spun in a circle, building up momentum, as if there wasn’t an enraged Minotaur now barreling down the arena toward him.
“He won’t get away with that jumping trick twice,” Phanes said, leaning forward in anticipation.
I’d grabbed the heavy golden wineglass Helena had left for me and raised it before I stopped myself. No, I could not bash it over Phanes’s head no matter how much I wanted to. Besides, the wineglass wasn’t large enough. The kylix would’ve had a much better chance at splitting Phanes’s skull.
Helena filled my glass, making the assumption that I’d raised it in a silent command for wine. I set it down without looking away from Ian as he spun for a second time. Naxos was now so close, Ian should be able to feel the breath from the Minotaur’s furious bellows. Why did he only keep spinning?
Jump! Run! Or fight! I silently screeched.
Ian released the discus right as Naxos rammed into him.
Horns ripped through Ian’s midsection. Blood and larger hunks flew as Naxos shook his head, resembling a great white shark more than a mythical bull-man hybrid. Ian grabbed at Naxos, trying to get enough leverage to pull free, but the Minotaur rammed Ian into the earth with a vengeful bellow.
A shower of crimson and dirt spurted around Naxos’s head. He’d used such force, only Ian’s arms and legs were now visible on either side of the Minotaur’s head. The rest of Ian’s body was in the hole Naxos had made with the horrific impact.
In my peripheral vision, I saw the discus tear through the base of the stands at the opposite end of the field, well past the measuring line. Not that it mattered now.
More gore rose from the hole around Naxos. My power pushed against my skin as if it were a living thing trying to escape.
I would kill Naxos. I would rip him limb from limb, and then command ice shards to riddle his bleeding corpse—
Phanes grabbed my arm. I hadn’t been aware of standing, but his hard yank pulled me back down.
“You cannot interfere,” he said in an urgent tone. “You will only needlessly forfeit your life. Let him die with honor, not live long enough to see that he’s condemned you, too.”
Oh, that wasn’t going to happen. Screw my more natural powers over water and ice. I’d rip out Phanes’s and Naxos’s souls like the horrifying creature I really was—
Naxos flew backward, landing on his ass over four meters away. Ian leapt after him, his shoulder armor spattered red from his own guts while the rest of his tunic was torn away.
Phanes’s hand dropped from my arm. “How?” he whispered.
I didn’t care how. I gripped my bench, exultation shooting through me until I felt drunk with it.
Naxos quickly recovered and charged Ian again. Ian leapt to the side, but swung his fist. It landed